Where Do We Go Now? Is a Lebanese film that took me on one of the most dramatic emotional rides I can ever remember. Like some of my favorite films I've seen within the last few years, I never knew where it would go next. The movie roams around giving the viewer a taste of a number of different genres, and doing them all justice. It's such a hard film to categorize but I'll talk about a few of the genres it explores. First of all, there are some musical scenes. They do a beautiful job of capturing a Broadway tone in these moments, and I was humming along with them. I almost wish there were more of these songs, but the movie had a lot of ground to cover, so perhaps pausing for more singing would be a bad idea. Along with the musical element there was also a romance woven into the plot. It doesn't have the beginning, middle, and ending that you'd expect out of a more traditional love story, but they utilize it as a story-telling device a few times, and I thought it was quite effective as a kind of pseudo Romeo & Juliet tale.
The next category you'll find in Where Do We Go Now? Is comedy, which dominates a large part of the first act and is also sprinkled throughout the rest of the film. I was so charmed by the group of scheming wives who are trying to find ways to subtly control the men of the village. Then there are the Ukranian dancers who add another element of humor to the film which I found surprisingly delightful. But at the heart of the film is a dramatic story that echoes the actual political conflict that has plagued the Middle East for millennia. I was mesmerized by this entire story and how even in this remote village there is a constant threat of aggression taking hold and leading the people to violence. On the one hand you feel the general frustration with the fact that these two groups can't maintain peace, but on the other hand you can see how one small act confirms all their prejudices and snowballs into disaster. Where Do We Go Now? Is a marvelous movie that made me laugh and cry multiple times, which shows just how effective its emotional story is told.
