Alshajarh alnaemah

I am not a film critic. I am not a writer. And I certainly am not an artist. But I do recognize a masterpiece when I see it. A masterpiece so grand that it has left me speechless for days. Lost for words.

"The Sleeping Tree" made its world premiere on December 13 2014 at the Dubai International Film Festival and is the first Bahraini feature film to be produced in almost a decade.

Capturing the magnificent literary writings of Fareed Ramadan, and set against the soulful musical creations of Mohammed Haddad, Director Mohammed Buali takes the viewers on an 87-minute cinematic mind trip of emotional, physical and spiritual twists and turns.

It tells the story of the trials and tribulations of a Bahraini family, revolving around their bedridden daughter Amina, who suffers from cerebral palsy. The film is a multifaceted tale of husband and wife, journeying back and forth between past and present, struggling between the reality of what is, and the dream of what is not. Between the living and the dead.

With a storyline that had me mesmerized from the opening scene, to a touching personal dedication from the Director at the end, The Sleeping Tree will awaken the senses of viewers and leave them questioning their own interpretation of the film. Lost for words. And therein lies the beauty of it.

About the Director: In 2008, Buali laughed when he was nicknamed "The Prodigy" by one of Bahrain's most prominent journalists after participating in a filmmaking symposium at a local university. Today, through the extraordinary portrayal of the dead in his debut feature film, The Sleeping Tree is living proof that Buali is nothing short of a miracle in the regional film industry.

This is a dazzling visual novel and the most distinguishing feature about this film is that it is breaking the traditional narrative traditions in the Gulf cinema, but very smoothly. Away from the traditional Simple causality logic, the scenario apparently overlapping of times by mixing reality with fiction reflecting the lasting swung between reality and hope. As usual, the director Mohammed Bu Ali hold the thread of his narrative seamlessly pushing us to hold our breaths until the last scene. Bu Ali managed competently an overflowing bitterness story from his childhood to a tale of hope by ending up the log journey of desperation of his hero at the place which symbolize a miracle: "Tree of Life", the tree that grew on a small plateau in the desert of Bahrain and remained lush until today since more than 400 years.

The Sleeping Tree will truly capture your soul with its images and sounds. The film is extremely personal and deep yet represented in minimal pictures that take you to a wonderful world of a picturesque yet truthful Bahrain. It makes you wonder if motion pictures could have a soul.

The film stands alone but strong. It's well made in every aspect like nothing the region has witnessed. Jamaan Alrowaiei's played the role of his life, Mohammed Alhadad tied it all together, and Mohammed Buali made it happen. The Sleeping Tree has set the bar too high for any filmmaker in the GCC and the Arab world.