Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The day I viewed this movie was the same day that it was announced that this film would be the Lebanese nomination for the Oscar for the Best Foreign Film. I even the the pleasure to be sitting right next to the Director and leading actress Nadine Labaki. I personally told her that she made a very beautiful movie, dealing with difficult topics in today's world. It is a very well written script. And the acting was fabulous even though most of the actors were amateurs. I have seen the movie a number of times since that day and every time I enjoy it as much as the first time. I did recommend it to all of my friends and family and to anybody else I can suggest it too. This is one of the best films I have ever seen and probably the best in a long time. This movie made us laugh out loud and cry at times. But everything works together well and it shows with the finished product that is as close to perfection as you can get on the big screen.

Lebanese actress/writer/director/producer offers on of the most poignant statement about the struggle in the Middle East, a struggle between Christians and Muslims for power and dominance -a struggle that while real is the most preposterous argument tow 'religions' based on love could have. Would that more people would watch this film there would probably be a better understanding of why the ongoing wars there are likely to never be settled.The story as written by the gifted Nadine Labaki (who also stars and directs) is that of a little village in Lebanon that is half Christian and half Muslim: the church and the mosque stand side by side and the morning bells from the church play at the same time the Muezzin calls the Muslims to prayer, the cemetery is divided between the Muslim side and the Christian side, etc. The balance between the two factions is tenuous and the men are always looking for ways to start war among themselves. The women of the town try everything to ease the tension - create a café, import Ukrainian belly dancers to distract them, ply them with hashish-laden foods. But when a stray bullet kills the male child of one of the mothers the division stops, the mother hides the slaughtered child, attempting to keep peace until silly arguments among the youths result in the discovery that the endless bilateral taunting has resulted in a tragedy. At the end of the film the narrator speaks: 'My story is now ending for all those who were listening, of a town where peace was found while fighting continued all around. Of men who slept so deep and woke to find new peace. Of women still in black, who fought with flowers and prayers instead of guns and flares, and protect their children. Destiny then drove them to find a new way' - to which the pallbearers ask of the divided cemetery, 'Where do we go now?'Labaki understands the need for comic relief in a story of this nature and she provides that in some very warmly funny ways - the women walking along in groups sing and do a choreographic step that makes us smile. But the power of the film is the message of compassion and the desperate need to re-think the omnipresent crises that tear the Middle East apart. And it is quite proper to find similarities in every part of society. Grady Harp

This is the worst Lebanese movie I've ever seen. It tells the tale of a mixed Christian Muslim village during the war in Lebanon and how the women from the village did everything (including a mother shooting her son, go figure!) they could to prevent the ethnic war between Christians and Muslims to spread into their village. The idea by itself is not bad, but what I found unacceptable is that the symbols of Christianity where severely bashed in this movie and this could have been easily avoided so not to hurt the feelings of Christian viewers. I'm no fanatic by any means, but the scenes of Virgin Mary statue being demolished and had dirt thrown at it is not a good thing at all. By wanting to make a symbol movie, Labaki treated the symbols of Christianity with no respect. I'm with protecting the symbols of all religions, but I wonder why only the Christian symbols where treated this way in this movie and not also the Muslim symbols? I think that Labaki didn't dare to do this because of the reaction of the Muslim community and this is something that I highly respect in Muslims. I hope that Christians will wake up soon and treat and defend their symbols like Muslims do. One other thing I found ridiculous in this movie is the opening dance of the women, I guess Labaki wanted to show the harmony between them, but it was ridiculous.

Diane and I saw this delightful film several days ago and its memory is as sharp now as then. The Director manages to put a rounded point on the sharp knives of the sectarian oriented men of the village and how she does this remarkable feat sums up the entire film. The director sites the film in an extraordinarily remote small village in strife torn Lebanon, I believe, to emphasize that these villagers are on their own with little outside influence to taint the purity of their own sectarian struggle; there are no outsiders to stir the pot, so to speak. I believe that this is critical to the film's blossoming in that the isolation reinforces the purity of the sequence of the unfolding events.After reading many of the Lebanese comments I cannot subscribe to the negative judgments of some of them. Obviously, as an outsider, I cannot judge the veracity of these negative comments but after viewing the film and reading the positive reader comments I must believe those people. See the movie and judge for yourself; it is a film from the heart and a, to me, believable insight into a country that has garnered much news space but little understanding.