Huda's Salon

Palestinian film maker Hany Abu-Assad, whose films MOOOV has always screened, continues to make relentless stories from Palestine. His newest film is situated in Bethlehem. Reem loves going to Huda’s hair salon for a friendly chat and the latest gossip, and to escape her jealous husband Yousef. But everything changes when one day Huda drugs Reem and takes compromising pictures of her. When Reem wakes up, Huda reveals that she works for the Israeli secret service. 

With the pictures, she blackmails Reem to spy on her own community. All this time, however, the Palestinian resistance has been keeping an eye on Huda’s salon. They are ready to step in and have no mercy for traitors. Reem desperately tries to find a way out for herself and for her baby Lina. Can she trust her husband, Yousef? At the same time Huda has to answer for her actions. ‘It is easy to occupy a society,’ she says, ‘that already oppresses itself’.

In pungent scenes, the director ruthlessly explores life under a constant threat of violence, relationships between people and their conscience. At the same time, the film shows how women are more vulnerable to manipulation in a society where they are powerless. A layered thriller which illustrates the impossible choices Palestinians in occupied territory have to face. Kudos to the three main actors who portray lived through, authentic characters, averse to any form of sensation.