Huda’s Salon, 2022.
Written and Directed by Hany Abu-Assad.
Starring Maisa Abd Elhadi, Ali Suliman, Manal Awad, Omar Abu Amer, and Samer Bisharat.
SYNOPSIS:
A woman whose visit to a hair salon turns into a nightmare when she is blackmailed by its owner.
There is a meticulous finesse in which writer and director Hany Abu-Assad establishes a seemingly safe space before shockingly disarming the viewer. To be fair, Huda’s Salon begins with text briefly explaining the dire reality of occupied Palestine’s West Bank and the dangers women face alone in public. Still, watching a woman perform hairdressing duties on another inside an otherwise empty salon does not feel uneasy. Doubly so, considering these women seem to be on the same page, discussing several topics ranging from social media to terrible husbands.
Nevertheless, the situation quickly transitions into something dark, as salon owner Huda (Manal Awad) blackmails Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi), a client who appears to be her friend, into working for the Palestinian Secret Service. This involves identifying resistance members, calling a secure handler, and effectively turning them over to Israeli forces alongside whatever knowledge, weapons, and supplies they possess. It’s a particularly nasty woman-on-woman betrayal, with Huda specifically targeting neglected housewives for more direct coercion. The execution of this sequence doesn’t hold back on the humiliation aspect, with Elhadi turning in a profoundly sympathetic performance as she navigates the traumatic aftermath.
Reem’s husband suspects that she is having an affair (which seems to have been a plague on their marriage for a while now), so even if she did find the courage to speak up about what happened, there’s a fear that he wouldn’t stick around anyway. The reality is that Reem has been forced into a secretive lifestyle and is now surrounded by danger. All of this while trying to nurse her infant child. Ironically, the only one she can turn to for support is the one who put her in this nightmare scenario.
However, even that proves to be impossible as resistance members trail and catch suspicious behavior from Reem, promptly deciding to storm the salon and take Huda, hostage in an underground base. Uprising group leader Hasan (Ali Suliman) takes it upon himself to psychologically interrogate Huda, where it’s made heartbreakingly clear that she also doesn’t have much choice in her actions. As a result, she tries to justify upending these women’s lives by telling herself she is giving them agency to develop field experience that will slowly grant them the bravery to push back against their controlling or abusive partners, but of course, it comes across as trying to make herself a victim from her sins. That’s not to say the resistance members are any better; they are willing to kill anyone who could have given Israel helpful anything and are eager to further inflict psychological pain on Huda (who also has a rough marital past) to get those names and locations.
Abu-Assad handles the scary situation of these women for what it is, oppression on different sides of a coin. Despite the blatantly immoral actions of Huda, there is a degree of empathy, adding layers to those gripping interrogation scenes. In the case of Reem, Huda’s Salon functions as a tense thriller, internally suffocating and quietly trying to survive while consistently subjected to mistreatment from her husband and his family. Simultaneously, the narrative does further lean into those genre trappings while distancing itself from the political message at hand, eventually reaching a point of questioning if all that opening text was necessary. There’s also an abruptness to the climax that doesn’t seem to fully capitalize on the breakneck momentum that’s palpable across the entire tightly edited 90-minute running time.
Still, for its few glaring missed opportunities, Huda’s Salon offers up white knuckle suspense while boldly addressing the terror of such oppression and how it has turned women against one another. There’s a deep resentment for Huda alongside pitiful understanding while hoping Reem finds a way to protect herself and her daughter. Above all else, it’s a harrowing look into some highly troubling Israeli-Palestinian conflict anchored by a small, scintillating ensemble.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
