Al Juma Al Akheira (Alabdallah, 2011)

Al Juma Al Akheira (Alabdallah, 2011) - #Berlinale 2012

A taxi driver is faced with surgery and is forced to rethink his life.

The film is extremely slow, but although I had difficulty of following in the beginning (due to sheer tiredness) the film got me by and by. In a society that has an incredible number of restrictions and some rather bizarre types of freedom when viewed with a Westerner's eyes I could really get a small glimpse into the torment of the main character. There were some nice ideas in how the character refuses to take any kind of responsibility for his behavior, his actions and how they might affect others. There is also no big change in the way the lead perceives the world, more of a realization of his situation.

I didn't feel the political allegory that reviewers have pointed out, but then I was not totally immersed in the topic.

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