Have you ever thought about the huge role of culture in our life? or at the great hole it creates when two cultures fail to communicate? if you haven't realized or experienced that, movies make a great way to portray this image and present culture's impact on the life of ordinary people, just like us.
Also, one of the recent movies I’ve seen and had this huge cultural sense was “Eat Pray Love” which highly focused on the huge differences between the American culture and three other rich cultures (Italy, India and Bali) and the process of exchanging some of our own culture with others which is known as "cultural diffusion."
When I first saw the trailer of “Cairo Time” I was attracted by the story which mainly revolved around the meaning of love and traditions in both the middle east and the West. When I found out that Ruba Nadda (the writer/director of the movie) is a syrian - Canadian I didn't find it hard to believe what the character was going through in the movie. The director explained how that she personally experienced this cultural differences when she was young and was visiting Egypt with her mother as she mentioned in the making of the movie.
The movie made it obvious that the culture within us is never noticed until we observe other's cultures and traditions. Through the experience of the main character Juliette (played by: Patricia Clarkson) we get to see the adventure of getting into a new society filled with different customs, values and norms.
However, there must be thousands of movies which revolve around the differences in cultures. Some might talk about love, friendship, family relations or it might turn to social conflicts and cultural misunderstanding like what is shown in the movie "Amreeka" which is mainly a political movie talking about a Palestinian woman and her son trying to fit-in and get used to the American society.
What made me interested in this movie is what it's writer/director Cherien Dabis said in her interview with Marian Lacombe, when she simply commented on her self by saying that she was: " not American enough for the Americans and not Arab enough for the Arabs." What Cherien Dabis portrayed in the movie was a reflection of her own experience when she personally had to face that "Cultural Shock" back when she was young.
Also, one of the recent movies I’ve seen and had this huge cultural sense was “Eat Pray Love” which highly focused on the huge differences between the American culture and three other rich cultures (Italy, India and Bali) and the process of exchanging some of our own culture with others which is known as "cultural diffusion."