Review
Searching for a New Germany
At some point after 1945, a new, socially liberal and pacifist Germany emerged that appeared almost the antithesis of what came before. As three books published in 2023 make clear, it was a long and winding journey to get there — and one based on continuity as well as rupture.
Depicting a Mother's Loss
Kaouther Ben Hania's newest documentary, “Four Daughters,” traces the life of Olfa Hamrouni, a Tunisian mother whose two eldest daughters joined the Islamic State group in 2016. Its innovative storytelling, mixing actors with real subjects, made a splash last year at Cannes and just scored an Oscar nomination.
Documenting Statelessness in Lebanon
Russian filmmaker Marie Surae’s documentary “I’m Not Lakit” follows Saleh, a stateless, abandoned child in Lebanon. Labeled a “lakit,” a derogatory term for those born out of wedlock, he faces social stigma on top of massive legal barriers as he embarks on adulthood.
In Life and Death, Libyan Poet Mustafa al-Trabelsi Sang the Song of Derna
The day Derna was washed out to sea, the poet Mustafa Trabelsi published a short poem on his Facebook page, titled “The Rain.” Its prediction of the coming devastation became an indictment of Libya’s corrupt political elite.
‘They Cloned Tyrone’ Wakes Viewers From an American Dream
Delightfully absurdist, in “They Cloned Tyrone,” Taylor and Rettenmaier make a subtle but damning point: Our experiment in democracy, or republicanism at least, has always relied on a violent dose of coercion.
How Feminist Dystopias Make Sense of a Changing Reality
Whether it paints a smaller picture or a big one, ends on a note of hope or hopelessness, fiction of ideas can help us sift through what threatens to overwhelm and remind us that even in the face of rabid reaction, sparks of autonomy will invariably ignite.
Embracing Egyptianness in the Diaspora
Both Copts and Muslims say Egypt is our mother because she gives us life, because she is our source, because she is so inextricably linked with religion and identity. But the diaspora often has to make sense of faith in an increasingly secularized world.