Miral

It is 1948 in Jerusalem when a middle aged woman, Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass), on her way to work comes across 55 orphaned children in the street. She takes them home to give them food and shelter. Within six months, 55 grows to nearly 2,000 young students, and thus the Dar Al-Tifel Institute is birthed.

From Julian Schnabel, Academy Award nominated director of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Before Night Falls and Basquiat, comes Miral, the story of four women whose lives intertwine amid a world overshadowed by conflict, rage and war.

In 1978, at the age of 7, Miral (Freida Pinto) was sent to the Institute by her father following her mother's death. Brought up safely inside the Institute's walls, she is naïve to the troubles just beyond the wall in front of her. Then, in 1988, at the age of 17, she is assigned to teach at a refugee camp where she is awakened to the reality of Palestine and Israel.

Schnabel's direction unfolds this material, based on the experiences of Rula Jebreal, who also wrote the screenplay, in a soap opera rather than Shakespearian. His usual auteur vision of cinematizing amazing novels onto the big screen with with style and cinematography failed him this time around, as the sometimes awkward camera feels like a gimmick - like out takes from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Hiam Abbass's performance is stellar as usual. Freida Pinto is certainly miscast as a Palestinian and that's all I will say about that. With all of the elements of an epic, Schnabel gives his audience a movie.