The Idol is a 2015 Palestinian drama film directed by Hany Abu-Assad. It tells a fictionalized version of the life of Mohammed Assaf, wedding singer from a refugee camp in Gaza who went on to win the 2013 Arab Idol singing competition.
I liked the first half of the movie, but I didn’t find the second half very engaging. Since the movie was set against the backdrop of Gaza, I expected it to be a window into life in this besieged territory, capturing the social climate and the suffering of the people. However, I don’t think the movie touched too deeply on this, except for the segment involving restrictions on movement across the border. But it did make me dwell on international borders and their vulnerability.
I have always found myself fascinated by borders because they represent transition zones where one’s geographical and cultural identity is undergoing a transition. When I travel across a border, I love the way the costumes change, the dialect changes, and the attitude/behaviors change. Borders in this regard, are interesting and stimulating. But what we often forget is that borders are also a political entity, and can add to social vulnerability, particularly when they are international borders ablaze with political strife.
This movie captures the determination of Mohammed Assaf who finds it in him to not be limited by political restrictions across borders and to pursue his passion and purpose. It also portrays how human elements find common ground and cut through political divisions, offering hope and respite in settings of adversity. Assaf uses his music to establish a connect with people; his music overcomes the political barriers that are restrictive on his goals.
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The first half of the movie views the world through the eyes of children. The Palestinian refugee children see their world with the optimism that only children are capable of; they see their world not as a place that restricts them, but as a place that is full of opportunities, excitement and adventure. They dream fearlessly.
In his book Dancing the dream, Michael Jackson captures the essence of this spirit that can only belong to a child:
Wise Little Girl:
I know a wise little girl who cannot walk. She is confined to a wheelchair, and she may spend the rest of her life there, since her doctors hold out almost no hope of ever making her paralyzed legs better. When I first met this little girl, she flashed me a smile that burned me with its blazing happiness. How open she was! She wasn’t hiding out from self-pity or asking for approval or protecting herself from a sense of shame. She felt completely innocent about not being able to walk, like a puppy that has no idea if it is a mongrel or a champion of the breed. She made no judgments about herself. That was her wisdom. All I saw was light and love. In their innocence, very young children know themselves to be light and love. If we allow them, they can teach us to see ourselves the same way. One sparkle from a little girl’s gaze contains the same knowledge that nature implants at the heart of every life form. It is life’s silent secret, not to be put into words. It just knows.
Nour was the life of this movie. Her vitality made it impossible for the viewer to focus on anybody but her. Her pace, determination, persistence and optimism were mind blowing. It was as if nothing could stop her or beat her. It was as if she could never die. And so, when she dies, it comes as a shock from which we fail to recover. One can’t help wondering what she would have been like as an adult, had she been alive.
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Both the language and the music were impressionable elements of this movie. I didn’t know Arabic had such a striking similarity with Spanish in the way it sounded. Both languages have such a musical, temperamental quality.
The music reminded me of the Hungarian soundtrack Szerelem Szerelem from The English Patient. It is interesting how language and music connect distinct geographical lands as they are embedded in a common history. In this context, one can’t help dwelling on how folk music has its unique attributes in terms of identity.
Where a folk song originated is rarely known to its community The repertory of a folk community probably always included songs of very diverse origins. The form of a folk song as heard at any one time, however, is likely to have been very much affected by the entire community because of its life in oral tradition. Any new song would be likely to undergo this process of communal re-creation. An important characteristic of a song or piece in traditional folk culture is, thus, its dependence on acceptance by a community—that is, by a village, nation, or family—and its tendency to change as it is passed from one individual to another and performed.
https://www.britannica.com/art/folk-music/General-characteristics-of-folk-music
So in essence, the movie was not much in terms of its plot, but it took me on a journey across space, across time. I am now beginning to appreciate how movies do not always have to be about characters or personalities. Some movies are experiences that may lose the identity of individual personalities or specific storylines. They lose their body and float freely in space, taking us on our own independent journeys. Just like folk music that loses its creator and the specifics of its creator in its journey!
It's all in the Mind. 
This post is great! Keep up the good work!
Thank you for reading!