Happy Holidays Review: One Palestinian Family’s Inter-generational Struggle In Stunning, Intimate Detail

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Scandar Copti’s film offers a layered look at a family in Haifa, exploring how love is challenged by strict cultural norms, complicated legal issues surrounding healthcare, and the difficulties of being a Christian Arab in a predominantly Jewish nation. Like his earlier film, Ajami, Copti uses mostly non-actors and relies heavily on improvisation, creating a deeply personal and revealing portrayal of everyday life.

In ‘Happy Holidays,’ director Tim Kuhn explores the tension between modern life and holding onto cultural traditions. The film follows four interconnected characters – in a style reminiscent of ‘Pulp Fiction’ – as they each struggle to balance family, love, and feelings of being outsiders in their own country. Kuhn uses a consistently close-up, handheld camera style, creating an intimate experience and allowing the audience to deeply connect with the characters and their complex situations, brought to life by remarkably honest performances.

Happy Holidays Benefits from Beautiful Performances Which (Mostly) Paper Over Its Flaws

The movie is deeply emotional, but it relies too much on its structure to hide problems with its slow pace and repetitive scenes. It could have benefited from tighter editing. The constant changes in perspective don’t really add anything and actually make it harder to understand how racial, political, social, and religious forces are impacting the community.

Rami, an Arab man, and Shirley, a Jewish woman, are in a troubled relationship. Shirley is pregnant and plans to keep the baby, which Rami struggles to accept, leading to a break between them. Adding to the family drama, Rami’s mother, Hanan, is determined to maintain their reputation despite her daughter, Fifi, being considered rebellious and recovering from a car accident. Meanwhile, Fifi’s husband, Fouad, is facing financial ruin due to insurance fraud.

Fifi, who studied in Jerusalem, works as a teaching assistant at a Jewish elementary school. She’s in love with Dr. Walid (Raed Burbara), a close friend of Rami, but she’s hiding a secret that could be embarrassing. Meanwhile, Shirley is considering becoming a single mother and is also dealing with subtle discrimination rooted in Zionist beliefs. Miri, a nurse, won’t help Shirley, even as she struggles with her own daughter, Ori, who might be pretending to be depressed to avoid serving in the military.

The family drama explores many complex social issues – like abortion, Zionism, and racism – but tries to cover too much ground, ultimately making the overall story feel unfocused. While the acting is strong and individual scenes feel realistic, the film as a whole doesn’t quite come together. It’s a rich story, but it buckles under the weight of its own ambition.

Trauma has deeply affected every aspect of these people’s lives, and it’s been exploited to promote nationalistic beliefs.

Despite its flaws, when the film succeeds, it powerfully conveys what it feels like to live in a heavily militarized nation. Trauma has touched every aspect of these characters’ lives, and it’s been used to promote nationalistic beliefs. Both the Israeli and Palestinian characters are struggling with the consequences of decades of political posturing, artificial conflict, and the misuse of traditional holidays.

The film’s title hints at the way traditions repeat during fall and winter, but it mainly focuses on Purim, a Jewish holiday where people dress up in costumes to celebrate the victory of good over evil and fairness over prejudice. However, in modern Zionism, holidays are often reinterpreted to promote a nationalistic viewpoint, which can unfortunately strengthen harmful stereotypes. The characters in Scandar Copti’s powerful film are trying to break free from these old, biased stories, embrace change, and, as the surprising ending suggests, boldly move beyond what’s considered normal to create a new future.

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2025-12-01 23:40