Although this movie has interesting moments and themes it really never coalesces. There is just too much of a lot of things – adolescence, sexuality, religion (Muslim and Judaism), Nazis, arranged marriages, friendship, betrayal and probably some other themes as well.
It takes place in Tunisia in 1942 after the Allied invasion of North Africa (so there are bombing raids too) and is the story of two teenage girls – one is Muslim and the other is Jewish - with all the above mentioned topics thrown at us. Their on-again off-again friendship is the centrepiece and everything else rotates slowly around this. The word "slowly" is deliberate as the film is ponderous, as if it doesn't quite know where to take us.
It takes place in Tunisia in 1942 after the Allied invasion of North Africa (so there are bombing raids too) and is the story of two teenage girls – one is Muslim and the other is Jewish - with all the above mentioned topics thrown at us. Their on-again off-again friendship is the centrepiece and everything else rotates slowly around this. The word "slowly" is deliberate as the film is ponderous, as if it doesn't quite know where to take us.