Rent In Between (2016)

A ground-breaking film that earned the director a fatwa! - In Between review by PV

OK so this film can be hard work and a bit slow at first BUT it's the first Arab/Palestinian film to show real life like this, and got the director/writer condemned massively and even got her a fatwa from imams! That means it's worth watching.

If this were made in Britain, the assault scene would be used as a stick to beat all men with and the woman who suffered it would be destroyed; here in this society, she moves on. Says it all really.

Islam and preachers come out of this badly, and both women and gay people are shown living their lives in a place where characters say to each other 'Where do you think this is - Europe?'

However, this is not male attitude to women but MUSLIM attitudes - which include often very conservative and devout Muslim women who are the ones who organise forced marriage, oppression of wives and FGM.

Worth remembering that 10% of Israel's population is Arab and they enjoy the SAME rights as anyone else in law - and work in professions there too. It must be liberating for them, as is shown here.

Not great but interesting to watch at least.

review - In Between review by ak

quite a good story and interesting view on a culture i know little about.

Subtitles however often unreadable

Should have been longer - In Between review by AKL

I quite agree with all that JR said. On top of this, I think the film tried to pack too much into its reasonable length. For once it would have been a better mini-series for TV with time and space to develop its characters and their background.

unsatisfactory - In Between review by MF

the film feels like a carbon copy of light Hollywood films which approximate a 90 minute comercial for clothes, drink and cigarretes. The characters are stilted and with little depth . the director shows the struggles of young Palestinian women to assert themselves in between their traditional families and the permisive Tel Aviv scene. however, that permisivenes refer only to clothes, make up, drink and cigarrets. there is no reference to the discrimination that Palestinian citizens and workers face in Israel. also there is no single shot of armed Israeli soldiers in the streets, who are ubiquitous in Israeli streets. from this perspective, the film becomes a 90 minute comercial for Israeli propaganda of being a democratic society and a rainbow society.

as a saving grace, the relationship between the thre young women is creative and heart warming.

Interesting movie - In Between review by BE

A film with substance and good acting. This was an eye opener on culture issues and what it must be like to live in modern day Israel. I failed to initially engage with the characters as I was missing a lot of the quite fast dialogue. The white subtitles were placed on top of the actual film thus making them impossible to read when the presenting scene was light as well. Poor show. Other than that, I am glad I persevered with it. 

Riveting taboo-breaker - In Between review by Alphaville

A taboo-breaking film about independent young Arab women seeking freedom from reactionary social constraints in modern-day Tel Aviv. Traditional, naïve Nour moves in with girls-about-town Laila and Salma. Cue sex, rape, Lesbianism, drug-taking and chain smoking – a rousing cry for freedom in the face of primitive Middle Eastern male attitudes to women.

A similar British film would be sullied by social realism and Ken-Loach-type politicking, but In Between frees its characters from any agenda save personal independence. It gives them the space to be themselves and gives us the space to become involved in their plights. Unlike the similarly-themed and coruscating Mustang its message will be blunted for some by making its heroines chain-smoking drug-takers, but you’ll soon be rooting for them in their fight for the right to be whatever they want to be. Like Mustang, it’s a character-driven movie that draws in, holds you in its thrall and leaves an indelible impression