Gulf Film Festival Spotlight: The Singer

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The feature film from Iraqi director Kassem Hawal deals with dictatorship in war-ridden Iraq but from a different point of view. Read below for triplew.me’s review…

The film starts out with The Singer – apparently a prominent and a loved character in the ‘city’ – on his way to the president’s birthday party. Most of the film takes place in the palace where the party is happening and that is where we meet all the characters who stay with us for the rest of the film.

Guests start arriving to the lavish palace – a mixed bunch. A journalist, a general, a wanna-be TV presenter - All beaming and happy, looking forward to a grand party and a grand night. But all things start to go downhill starting with the security check – guests get completely searched in a humiliating manner.

Everyone shrugs off the incident and they decide to go on and have a good time at the party – but the singer is late. So a variety of other performances and oddities take place – we’re at the president’s palace after all!

The movie explores the idea of a limitless dictatorship in which people are afraid to breathe properly let alone speak up against injustice and humiliation – which the dictator seems to enjoy doing – and the level of damage done to their lives as a consequence of them living under such fear.

The scenes are usually made of conversations between two related characters - in which they reveal secrets and thoughts they probably shouldn't have let out. Meanwhile we follow the singer as he tries to reach the palace on time for his performance.

What’s really interesting about this film is – is that it’s touched upon such sensitive and real topics in the quirkiest of ways. Hawal has managed to make a film so serious yet so darkly comic and connect with the audience through his entirely insightful cynical approach.

The Singer will make you chuckle, tear up, feel the tension but importantly and beneath all of the tragedy, sometimes it will make you smile.

STARRING

Amer Alwan, Athmar Khider, Kholod Jabbar

DIRECTED BY

Kassem Hawal

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