What a beautiful movie!

Strong and Moving!

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I watched this film quite by accident. It was lying around along with a few other French films because a friend wished to watch them to improve her language. On a bored evening, I put it on just to relax, knowing nothing about the film at all, and indeed not knowing that it was not a film that I'd find relaxing."Et maintenant on va où?" tells the story of a remote village in Lebanon where news of the religious violence in the rest of the country threatens to tear apart the two communities who have hitherto been living together peacefully. On the side of peace, however, are the women of the village, along with the religious leaders, who do not wish to see replicated in their village that which is affecting the rest of the country. A series of untoward incidents take place – chicken blood instead of wine at church, farm animals let loose into the mosque, and the tragic death of a young boy – which due to their religious nature arouse suspicion against the members of the other community. To thwart what may escalate into a full scale religious riot, the women, in a quasi-comical way, attempt to distract their men with an assortment of devices, including a faked communication with the mother Mary, Russian dancers and a gathering where the food has been laced with intoxicants.The film has a mix of light-hearted comedy and powerful emotions. A few scenes are particularly moving – one of the bereaved mother, who has just lost her little boy to a stray bullet, asking a statue of Mary, "T'es une mère, toi?" ("You call yourself a mother?"); another of an infuriated Nadine Labaki throwing all the men out of her little restaurant after a brawl breaks out, religious in nature, yelling at her lover asking him if the only destiny of the women in her village was to "porter le deuil" (to wear the robes of mourning). Also interesting (and educational) to watch is the portrayal of Lebanon's complex religious and social situation, something which has troubled her time and again in the past.Nadine Labaki's feminist comic-drama tells us that women occupy a position of power that is less evident but not less powerful. While men seemingly own the outside (in the film at least), projecting themselves into their surroundings (and often causing an asynchrony), the women own the inside and are capable of using this position.

As dogged a reality as it seems, men cause most all of the world's greatest problems (whether this would be true if women were in control is up for debate, but the facts are what they are). This film showcases the extremes that women will go to in a fictitious Lebanese village to divert mutual annihilation that is almost certain to come when a youth is killed. Sectarian violence between orthodox Christian and Muslim threatens the near-idyllic setting. All around, men kill other men based on religious beliefs that neither follows. Demonstrating the fallacy of holy wars, the women go to grave lengths--including switching alliances and hiring belly dancers--in order to buy their village a bit more time on planet earth. This darkly humored flick has soaring moments (mostly around the co-conspiratorial holy men) and those that flop (the brief hashish musical number). All in all, worth a duo of trinity forks from the highly co-existent AfroPixFlix.

Christians and Muslims lived peacefully side by side in a small Lebanese village until tension builds splitting the men from the two communities. The women from both sides decide to join forces to stop the escalating anger which includes hiring Ukrainian strippers.It was my greatest wish for this movie to be transcendent. With such a dire subject matter, it's hard to write a light comedy into the story. One event in the movie takes that away and makes it almost impossible to do a comedy. I can understand the attempt to lighten and enlighten. Events in the movie and out in the real world make this comedy sadly unfunny.

This is a beautifully executed story that will get you angry, sad, confused, enlightened and amused as it unfolds before you. This is the story of a small community barely keeping itself together, surrounded as it is by violent conflicts between opposing religious groups. Here though, the religious leaders are in unison with the women - they do not want to see any inter-religious strife. They do not want to witness any more deaths amongst the young men. The cemetery is full of the bodies of the village's youth and tended by the weeping women who's hopes and dreams for the future are prematurely ended by the deaths of their sons. With slightly inept determination the women decide to take matters into their own hands. They achieve an unsteady truce but at least life goes on. Hope is given a second chance. A lovely, heart warming film.