By Thientam Nguyen, Student ContributorRanda Chahal Sabag (director)’s The Kite dips and soars through the classic tale of forbidden lovers, smoothly blending the downs of a loveless arranged marriage with the rise of love at first sight. Like the titular kite, the plot floats deftly from the light-hearted banter of the women planning the wedding, to the philosophical musings of the old tower guard, to the star-crossed lovers’ wistful loneliness.
In our modern times, where arranged marriages seem like merely shadows of the past, this film lends a more corporeal perspective. Here we can see Lamia’s helplessness in her situation – unable to call off the wedding that she was deemed destined to – and the resentment that builds from a forced coupling. One particularly striking scene is the wedding, a traditional Lebanese affair. We witness the zaffeh (the act of escorting the bride to her husband), meant to be a joyous moment, contrasted with Lamia’s misery.
The themes of freedom and escape are reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro’s dreamlike Pan’s Labyrinth, but the film still manages to address love in the same tragic, funny, lilting, and beautiful tone as Richard Curtis’ Love Actually. The resulting combination is a realistic fairytale, determinedly free of hate, where love triumphantly liberates the soul.
