CATEGORIES

BI INTETHAR AL YASMIN

Description

Title: Bi Intethar Al Yasmin
Genre: Drama
Cast: Solaf Fawakherji, Ghassan Masoud, Sabah Al-Jazaeri, Ayman Rida, Ali Kraiem, Marah Jabr, Zuheir Ramadan, Nadine Khoury, Giana Eid, Shukran Murtaja, Mohammad Hdaki, Ahmad Al-Ahmad, Khaled Al-Qeish, Samer Ismael, Mohammad Kanou’, Mahmoud Nasr
Year of Production: 2015
Director: Samir Hussein
Number of episodes: 34
Running Time: 45 minutes per episode

Abu Salim is a professional soap maker. He was living an acceptable life, satisfying with what God gives him and having a good relationship with his family despite of lack of money before moving. He carried a small TV with him to follow up the war news, waiting for the most important one: "The War is Over". This man wants nothing but returning to his destroyed house to set up a tent over it and live there. 

 

During this waiting, and because of daily needs and the necessity to obtain the minimum demands of living, Abu Salim had to work as a porter in Damascus markets and washing cars, while his wife had to work in cleaning housing and Salim on their truck in a difficult circumstances imposed by the difficult days passing in the city itself. Their only dream was to be able to rent a room in order to escape the cold nights of the park.

 

All this was happening simultaneously with the park's and daily life's problems. These problems were not simple or small especially in a time when getting daily food was a major problem.

 

But all this didn't prevent Life River to flow. Um Hisham, one of the characters who used to go to the park regularly, liked Haifa, Abu Salim's youngest daughter, and asked her son to meet her after getting the family's approval in order to propose to her. Though this traditional way of marriage, love finds its way to both hearts. When our misery increases, our dreams become wider, our passion grows more and so do our feelings. This how man survives and makes his own balances to go on living, and so were Hisham and Haifa.  

 

Many are the details we underestimate when having a normal life, but we realize their importance in crisis such as war. Haifa desires to be well – dressed in front of her fiancée Hisham, she desires to look more beautiful. If this happened before, in normal circumstances, we would laugh at it probably, but in the park and among displaced people, this desire became a life necessity which reveals our humanity and sensibility. Love's details of this couple were affected by the war, as if war had been raised because of them.

 

All the difficult conditions didn't prevent both families from celebrating the engagement in the park. People's concerns do not prevent them from being happy; even when happiness seems to be fleeting. 

 

The party becomes the event which everyone is preparing for; some fresh breezes amid the suffocation in the sea of the fear.

"Abu Aziz" with his wife and children are another family live in the park; a farmer whose high mettle was his tool in the battle of life. He used to fight for saving the dignity of his family, so he reclaimed some parts of the park, seeded them and sold the plantings in order to feed his children. His wife was exposes to fire which affected her face. She tries hardly to cure it because she is still young and wants to remain pretty in the eyes of her husband. Small details in our daily life can't be ignored because of any war. Her problem was being unable to have the treatment which is considered a merely luxury for a displaced woman by many.

 

Um Aziz deals badly with other women in the park, she appears jealous, quarrelsome and doubtful, but we discover beneath all that a woman who knows nothing but the simple life of the village. She dreams to be like "Nour"; the heroine of the famous Turkish TV series, and Abu Aziz to be like "Muhannad"; the hero of the same series. But how this could become real? Her husband is struggling for a shelter and for a living day by day.

 

Um Aziz asked "Fedda", a Nuri woman, to provide her with a magical recipe giving beauty back to her face. The latter put one condition to that: Um Aziz has to poison "Abu Al Shouq"; the evil character in the place, who has been pursuing Fedda for money in order to let her stay in the park.

 

The poison reaches Um Aziz's daughters' hands; they drink it and survive death at the last minutes. 

"Abu Al Shouq", the mysterious character coming to the park regularly, keeps chasing Abu Aziz's family and other families there. He takes advantages of their circumstances and weakness. He tries to take the chance of the absence of Abu Aziz to get closer to the latter's wife. When being faced by the husband, Abu Al Shouq reacts violently on everyone in the park using many deceitful ways. Abu Aziz buys a gun to defend his family from what seems to happen. His eldest son "Aziz" reaches the gun and by accident shot his brother "Karim" who dies immediately.

 

Abu Aziz takes responsibility of the accident and goes to jail, leaving his family when they strongly need him beside them. Abu Salim and the rest of park's people become the family for Um Aziz and her children. 

 

"Lama" and her two children summarize the story of any war. Her husband went out to buy bread, and never came back. When things went worst where she lived, she fled to the park. She was without any breadwinner, without folks, totally alone. She had nothing but the hope of the return of her husband "Taim" to her and her children "Suheil" and "Nour". 

Lama has no family because she rebelled and married a man from another sect in a country of sects. "Abu Al Shouq", the evil one, tries to get closer to her cheating that he can know where her husband is, but he fails. So, he kidnaps her daughter "Nour" and makes a huge pressure over Lama who finally submits to him. Abu Al Shouq didn't satisfy with that, so he sold the child to a doctor involved in human organs trade. "Ridda", a homeless young man lives in the park, tries to save Nour, will he succeed?

Lama's pains never end here. Because she had been raped by "Abu Ageinah" and his partner "Nazih", Lama found herself pregnant and so she stabs herself to kill the embryo of that assault.

 

Nazih is Abu Al Shouq's partner. He is a criminal. He has no integrity. He began as a small thief but took advantages of war and began to gain money by selling everything in the black market. Then, he began trying to clean his dirty history aiming to be considered a prestigious business man, during his greedy journey, hoping to be among the elite of the society… he is the man of the coming days. 

Nazih and Abu Al Shouq are another "war" in the park, both are the type which appears in every war, they are its merchants, its disease, and its parasites that take war as a homeland with no deterrents at all.

War spreads all over the country and reaches the popular neighborhood where Um Hisham lives. A random shell caused death to her son Hisham and his brother in law Salim. 

 

Hisham, Salim and the baby "Karim" are martyrs among thousands and thousands of martyrs died in this country, and what's breaking heart is that they didn't find any place to rest except the park where they've been buried. This park, "Maybe" Park, becomes The Martyrs Park in the country of martyrs. 

Near those displaced people, there are those who come to the park permanently: 

 

"Ridda"'s Father spent his life abroad working. When he returned, he found that his wife had run away with another man. This was Ridda's first shock, them the war took place in Syria and this was the other shock for Ridda. Losing his balance and hopes, he was wandering around crying for his lost homeland. He is a positive character although he's alcoholic. He faced Abu Al Shouq and become a thorn in his way, especially when the latter harassed Lama and kidnapped her daughter. Ridda's alcoholism makes him suspicious sometimes during the actions taking place here. Finally, he finds his salvation through Lama and her children. Lama is the one who was able to recreate positive energies and feeling inside Ridda. More or less, Ridda represents our conscience in his escape, inaction and revival. 

 

"Brimo" is a coffee seller. He is cute and simple. He made his bicycle a mobile shop for selling hot and cold drinks. He used to wander singing. His simplicity put him in wrong situations sometimes; we see him shocked by Nizar's friend, sometimes by Abu Aziz and other time by Abu Al Shouq. He used to live carelessly until he meets Najwa, Abu Salim's daughter. The loving man who seeks stability and having a family awakes inside him. He moves and lives with the displaced people in the park and become one of them, though his inner self migration began long time ago before the outbreak of the war.

 

"Nizar" is the park ranger and lives there. He shares the details of the newcomers against his will. His days become full of their events. Nizar becomes a judge between them and settles down their disputes, trying to comfort their fear and anxiety. At the personal level, he faced a very strange situation: one of his friends, "Na'aim" who lives in the park asked him a very weird favor; he asked him to marry his ex – wife temporarily.

 

"Abu Elias" is an old man who is left alone. He found in the park an outlet instead of the nursing house where he lives. In addition to that, he found "Um Bashira"; the old divorced woman whom he dreams to spent the rest of his life with, but this is completely impossible for both of them. 

 

"Aby Tarek" is a retired government employee whose honesty caused him a lot of troubles before getting retired. He listens to everyone, to their needs and requests, and becomes a judge for their cases and disputes. He took this role with an open heart. He stands for the good and positive man in our lives. 

 

"Na'aim" or "Abu Iyad" is a retired government employee. He had a miserable marital life. He's married to "Kaother"; a woman who is twenty years younger than him. This failure in their marriage pushed Abu Iyad to divorce his wife three times.

 

When they discover their mistake, they find that the reunion is very complicated. Because he divorced her three time, Kaouther had to be married to another man and being divorced again before remarrying Na'aim. The question is: who would do that for Abu Iyad? Who would accept to marry Kaouther for just few hours? Would Abu Iyad achieve his goal? Nizar do that task reluctantly and shyly. Once Nizar married her, he found with her the warmth of a wife and marital life, and so did she. She found him a man almost in her age seeking stability. Both want to keep their marriage. Consequently the relationship between the three of them (Na'aim, Kaouther and Nizar) becomes very complicated and swings between tragedy and comedy.

 

In the midst of this troubled family life, how is "Iyad", the son? And what about "Randa" their daughter who studies at the university? The children inherited their parents' failure. Iyad is a careless unemployed young man, sinking in the virtual world of the internet. He does relations over the internet and gets involved with a young woman exposing her body over the network sites which leads him to steal in order to keep communication with her. 

 

"Randa" finds in "Faisal", Suha's father, the father she yearns for. Their relationship goes complex: she thinks that she loves him because Faisal looks after her and helps her financially, Faisal finds a beautiful young woman fond of him, he finds her a resort from life pressure after his work has been affected by the war. Randa repeats her mother's mistake. She married Faisel who is twenty five years older than her, and above all he's her friend's father. Randa made a double betrayal: she betrayed herself and her friend.

 

Suha's family had an anxious life because of the mother "Nadia" who is about to reach menopause with all its physiological and psychological changes over the woman's body and mood. In addition, the war increased her nervousness which was reflected upon her husband and daughters and upon Hiba particularly. Hiba graduated from Business administration faculty and failed to find a job. Nadia tries to impose a blockade over Hiba's movement fearing the current war while the young lady wants to live her life with her friends, especially "Rami"; the young man who works in a bank and lives alone.

 

"Rami" is a young man. He is open – minded, self – confident and has the ability to influence others. He doesn't want to be involved in any commitment such as marriage. He always seeks open relationships with no goal or aim but pleasure. Hiba likes Rami and wants to be in love with him. Rami is aware to the crisis happening around him but his reaction is carelessness; he tries to escape it and to sink in the fun life: staying awake all night, dancing, drinking alcohol, while the war wasn't far away from him. 

 

When Randa and Faisal's marriage news spread, Hiba makes up her mind and leaves her parents' house to live with Rami in unconditional relationship. This was her reaction to her father's behavior in which she saw recklessness doesn’t suit his age. 

 

Suha is the most rational member in the family though she is the youngest. She treats all her folks logically and calmly. She represents the promising generation in Syria. She is in love with her colleague "Hussam". War didn't reach to Suha nor ruined her morality or her concepts about life.

 

Hussam is a young man who is shocked from what's happening in his country, but at the same time he dealt with the war in a positive reaction: he promised himself that this war won't pass without learning a deep and practical lesson from it. So he began willingly doing scientific, social and humanitarian researches about the reasons behind this crisis and its results, and wrote down some notes until he decided to launch a logical and balanced Blog on the internet, aiming it to be a beacon for his generation to prevent this war to be repeated for a second or third time. Hussam was trying to do this work knowing that it's a humble effort compared to the size of the crisis. On the other hand, he believed that it was a small stream and that it had to be linked with other streams to form the river of peaceful positive change.

 

His enthusiasm caused him going to jail one day and being deprived of university exams the other day, but all that didn't prevent him to continue what he had begun inside his homeland, away from militancy and extremism, rejecting all forms of violence. 

 

Hussam and Suha are the future of Syria.

Hala, a friend of Kaouther, is a rich divorced woman chasing "Murad", a young man who is more than ten years younger than her, and who hides from her the fact that he's married and has children. He uses her and takes her money for his own family. 

 

This series has about thirty characters and it's hard to mention them all here. Their stories are parallel and overlapped in a way or another. All of them are heroes. Each one has his/her own inner world, and each one has the chance to reveal what's inside his/her heart away from artificiality.

 

These characters swing between the world of war and crisis and the world of the daily life, they are like most of the audience whom will find some details and stories similar and familiar to what they live themselves. 

The work is full of exciting and non-stop scenes, with a rapid rhythm. It includes more than 1100 scenes with elegant moves and cuts between the actions and the characters.

 

War… crisis… difficulty of life… poverty.. expensiveness… fear… greed… war profiteers… brutalizing… women; the weakest victims in wars… and above all, childhood which will remain an open wound in our hearts, difficult to be removed, and even when removed, it will leave the hardest damage which will never heal.

Away from any politics or attitudes, "Waiting for the Jasmine" talks about us, talks about everybody in Syria, talks about human beings… only human beings. 

Man is the homeland and the worst thing may happen to him is to lose his love to live.