Where Do We Go Now?

The third movie in this blog series is Where Do We Go Now?, directed by Nadine Labaki. The film was released in 2011 and was highly regarded as the most successful Lebanese movie until Labaki’s later film, Capernaum. The film follows a small remote village in Lebanon that is split religiously during the major periods of civil strife in the later half of the 20th century. The film primarily focuses on the women in the village attempting to keep violence from breaking out among the men.

At the beginning of the movie, the peaceful coexistence between both Christians and Muslims is shown when both the priest and imam of the church and mosque, respectively, tell their congregations not to blame each other for incidents that had happened. However, after a small scuffle breaks out between the two sides, violence becomes more prevalent and the women of the village from both sides come together to try to keep the peace.

One of the children of the village was killed while on an errand outside the town, causing tensions to boil over in the village, but the women took action to stop it. Some acts the women took to keep the peace were sabotaging the communications into the village to keep from hearing of the war, hiring belly dancers to distract the men, and lacing food with drugs to make the men pass out while the women removed weapons from the village.

At the end of the movie, the women take one last step to unite the village by swapping clothes with each other, confusing the men and making them realize the importance of getting along with each other. They bury the boy who was killed early in the movie and look to the women of the village for guidance.

The film did a great job of showing the power women have in a majorly patriarchal society. As Hauge stated in his dissertation, “upper class women, bureaucrats, and hotel owners sought to change the ways in which Lebanese perceived their own national heritage and history” (Hauge, 2024). Many times throughout the movie, the village would have been broken and descended into chaos like the rest of the country if it had not been for the women. Nadine Labaki also portrayed the Lebanese culture very well, showing that both sides do get along very well when they are united, and that Lebanon is not as sectarian as people think.

Women have played a major role in the economy as well since the civil war in Lebanon. “As their menfolk joined the fighting, were kidnapped, or killed, women took upon themselves domestic, economic, and social responsibilities” (Moufarrej, 2024). Where Do We Go Now? provided a great insight into the responsibilities and power of women in Lebanon.

  Hauge, I. S. (2024). Phoenician Merchants and Ladies of Culture: Lebanon’s Tourism Industry, 1943-1975. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.

Moufarrej, G. (2024). Women, Grief, and the Art of Lamenting in Maronite Christian Funerals in Lebanon. Journal of Folklore Research, 61(2), 69–98. https://doi.org/10.2979/jfr.00008