Foreign Film Fixes for Spring: Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran review
Ashley Stewart
Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: Film
"Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran" is an easy going French film set in the 1960s. The movie deals with Muslim and Jewish relations in a more subtle and gentle way than the heavy-handed war films gracing the film-festival circuit.
The film traces the unlikely friendship between a young, Jewish teenager and an elderly Turkish Muslim.
Momo (Pierre Boulanger) is a 16-year-old Jewish teenager who lives in a small apartment in Rue Bleue, the red-light district of a small, working class Parisian neighborhood. After being abandoned by his mother, Momo was left with his father (Gilbert Melki), an intellectual who is still distraught over his wife's departure and takes out his frustration on his son.
The boy is left without parental guidance.
His freedom and location allow Momo to come-of-age with the various ladies-of-the-night who roam his neighborhood.
After wandering into a small, nearby market, Momo converses with the owner, a Turkish Muslim called Monsieur Ibrahim (Omar Sharif). Ibrahim is a gentle, elderly man who finds refuge in his Qur'an.
The two develop an offbeat friendship which, among other things, takes them on an unexpected trip to Turkey.
The film asserts the importance of the person inside and takes a subtle and gratifying approach to conveying that message.
The film traces the unlikely friendship between a young, Jewish teenager and an elderly Turkish Muslim.
Momo (Pierre Boulanger) is a 16-year-old Jewish teenager who lives in a small apartment in Rue Bleue, the red-light district of a small, working class Parisian neighborhood. After being abandoned by his mother, Momo was left with his father (Gilbert Melki), an intellectual who is still distraught over his wife's departure and takes out his frustration on his son.
The boy is left without parental guidance.
His freedom and location allow Momo to come-of-age with the various ladies-of-the-night who roam his neighborhood.
After wandering into a small, nearby market, Momo converses with the owner, a Turkish Muslim called Monsieur Ibrahim (Omar Sharif). Ibrahim is a gentle, elderly man who finds refuge in his Qur'an.
The two develop an offbeat friendship which, among other things, takes them on an unexpected trip to Turkey.
The film asserts the importance of the person inside and takes a subtle and gratifying approach to conveying that message.
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