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ANMag Issue 27 Entertainment
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
By Shrief Fadl, Staff Writer
Beirut, Lebanon – There are many problems with contemporary literature. Some critics accuse authors of sacrificing the artistic integrity of their work in favor of something that sells. Other critics accuse some authors of writing that is filled with style but void of substance, using words for decorative purposes only. Mitch Albom’s second novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, manages to satisfy both groups of critics, maintaining the balance between an overly commercial book, and an overly artistic one. Although by no means a long book, its brevity seems to add to the impact it has on the reader, recounting age old life lessons in a new way, thus finding a fresh path to the reader’s heart and mind.
Somewhat symbolically, the story begins at the end, with the main character named Eddie, dying in the first chapter. After Eddie dies and consequently goes to heaven, as the title of the book suggests, he meets five people who have affected his life directly or indirectly, some of whom he doesn’t even know. The five people that he meets go on to explain Eddie’s life to him, all of the things that he died without knowing why or how they had happened, every unknown being identified. This perhaps is what made so many people from all over the world relate to this book, Albom uses the universal characteristic that is shared by every human being as the central theme in his novel; death. Albom goes even further than that and draws on the reader’s curiosity of the after life. He also taps into the hope that is shared by so many people from different cultures, the immutable hope that all the mysteries in one’s life, everything that seems to be just out of reach of one’s comprehension, will eventually be revealed. [More]
Look, Listen and Shout
By Hanin Ababneh, Staff Writer
Beirut, Lebanon – As postmodernism takes its residence in the era and abstract ideology becomes simply an attitude rather than a theory, individuality becomes a ray of light in a region of darkness. Sharif Abdunnur’s ‘Handala’s Journey’ is an artistic masterpiece describing the current Arab situation in the form of our present independent lifestyles. As the Arab world clenches its fingers further into development, modernization and globalization, it also has opened up to the sense of individualism. With the new fetish that the Western world has for democracy and its movement for uniqueness, individuals are bound to stand up and stand out. As individuality is encouraged to reach to the ultimate goal of democracy and the voice of the people to finally be heard, ‘Handala’s Journey’ becomes a painting of a blend of the colours of the past, present and future. Art has been traditionally defined to be a single piece of work whether it be a play, poem or painting. Sharif Abdunnur has broken the boundaries of traditionalism through his work, merging both painting with play to give his audiences the feel of defiance to the traditions that have kept them shackled into their misfortunes. [More]
AMAL Festival 2008
Member of the Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity (UNESCO)
Santiago de Compostela, Spain – The International Euro Arab Film Festival AMAL VI will be held on October 25, 2008, in Spain.
AMAL started in 2003 as the first competitive festival of its kind in Spain. Works from all over the world arrive to AMAL Festival, produced or co-produced by Arabs, or with a topic related to Arab world or culture. Most of the Arab countries or the Arab communities in Europe or America are represented at the Festival. The works reflect a compromised cinema, not only with their cause, but with social changes into the Arab society, women role, and social differences, among others. [More]