Despite being one of the most spoken languages in the world, movies from the Arab world tend to fly under the radar when it comes to mainstream entertainment. Their Farsi counterpart, the cinema that comes out of Iran, has seen more success since the 90s as filmmakers such as Asghar Farhadi, Abbas Kiarostami, and Jafar Panahi, to name a few, have risen to prominence in recent years. However, Iranian and Arab culture is similar, yet drastically different, sparking a need to showcase more Arab movies to represent more diversity in the SWANA region.
And some directors and filmmakers have managed to escape local popularity in the film festival and Western awards circuits. Nadine Labaki, a Lebanese actress and director educated in Lebanon and France, became the first Arab woman director to be nominated for an Academy Award with her movie Capernaum. As the increasing demand for content from countries unfamiliar to viewers appears on streaming platforms, it is only a matter of time before more Arab and Middle Eastern movies and television shows will become more popular outside of the region. These were the best movie releases in Arabic from the 2010s.
12 Blessed Benefit
A film from Jordan, Blessed Benefit came out in 2016. The story focuses on Ahmad, a construction worker who gets caught in a specific situation by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. A business deal gone wrong lands him in prison, where he meets Ibrahim, who has committed fraud several times on paper. However, Ibrahim is fighting to prove that he is an innocent man, as he hopes to get out of prison and resume life as he knows it. But when Ahmad spends more time in prison, he realizes that life inside of jail might be better than the one he was living as a free man.
11 Where Do We Go Now?
Lebanese director and actor Nadine Labaki came out with her film Where Do We Go Now? in 2011, and it became the highest-grossing Arabic-language movie at that time after it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie takes place in a Lebanese village and highlights the religious diversity of the country. In this village, there are both Christians and Muslims living side by side, and when the country finds itself amid a civil war, the protagonists must learn to cope with the situation at hand and with each other, despite their differences.
10 Bittersweet / Molasses
Bittersweet, which was also released under the English name Molasses, is an Egyptian comedy that captures a specific, fleeting emotion felt by many Egyptians today. A man named Masry left Egypt decades ago and is now on the eve of returning to his home country. It has been 20 years since he last stepped foot in Egypt, but with the death of his father, he feels obligated to return. However, once he arrives, it is not the same country he left behind, and now he must grapple with the nostalgia of his boyhood in tandem with the life he is currently living.
9 The Insult
- Ezekiel Films
A Lebanese drama, The Insult imagines what would happen if a Christian and a Palestinian have to face each other in a court of law. Tony, who is Lebanese and Christian, finds a Palestinian worker on his property and reacts to this with anger. A fervent supporter of anti-Palestinian sentiments, the two’s argument spirals out of control and ends in violence. This leads Tony to sue the worker, confronting several issues and traumas faced by everyday Lebanese and Palestinian citizens today. The film was ultimately on the shortlist for the Academy Award for Best International Feature but lost to A Fantastic Woman.
8 Arab Blues
Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani stars in 2019’s Arab Blues as Selma. Selma is moving back to Tunisia after being educated abroad in Paris, and she wants to start her private practice as a psychoanalyst. However, because she is a woman hoping to tackle mental health issues and problems in Tunisia, she faces a specific kind of backlash and wonders from the people around her. Arab Blues is about her struggle to be accepted as a woman trying to help the community, and how she overcomes all the difficulties that come her way.
7 Omar
Released in 2013, Omar tells a uniquely Palestinian story in its run time and was a nominee for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards. It made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of Omar, a banker who dreams of marrying a high school girl he loves. One day, when he crosses over the West Bank barrier, Israeli soldiers attack him. Driven by revenge, he and his friends kill a soldier one night, which will completely change their lives after Omar is arrested for the murder.
6 Wadjda
Wadjda was the first movie ever directed by a Saudi Arabian woman, Haifaa al-Mansour, and was the first-ever feature film to be completely shot inside Saudi Arabia. Its protagonist is Wadjda, who, at the beginning of the movie, is 10 years old. She wants to buy a green bicycle from the store she passes every day while heading to school, but in Saudi Arabia, women and girls are discouraged from riding bikes. She decides to take matters into her own hands, earning enough money to buy the bike herself. The film gained international acclaim for its subject and was Saudi Arabia’s first submission for an Academy Award.
5 Sheikh Jackson
In Sheikh Jackson, the concept of impersonators goes beyond national boundaries and the Internet. The Egyptian movie tackles the subject of one Islamic cleric who has a particular hobby: he likes to dress up as the singer Michael Jackson in his free time. Jackson was the cleric’s childhood idol, and dressing up as the singer is his way of paying homage to Jackson. However, at the beginning of the movie, Michael Jackson’s death occurs, and the cleric finds himself doubting his faith and religion because Jackson was the man he truly looked up to during his coming-of-age.
4 Beauty and the Dogs
2017’s Beauty and the Dogs was made by the Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania and was the Tunisian entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film that year. After a young woman is raped in Tunisia, the systems in place that supposedly protect the people fail her. Her rapists were police officers, leading to the investigations being halted due to corruption, but still, she pushes on in the name of justice. Beauty and the Dogs shows the circumstances it takes for women to be believed and taken seriously throughout the world after a tragic incident occurs.
3 Theeb
Directed by British-Jordanian Naji Abu Nowar, Theeb, which came out in 2014, takes place in the middle of World War I. A Bedouin boy named Theeb has recently been orphaned due to the conflicts in the region, and after being told not to follow, he joins his brother, an Arab, and a Brit on a new journey. But when tragedy strikes, Theeb is left alone in the desert and must find a way to survive. The movie landed a nomination at the Academy Awards, making it the first Jordanian film to do so.
2 Capernaum
Nadine Labaki returned in 2018 with Capernaum, a story about what happens in the underbelly of Lebanon. Zain, a young preteen from the slums of Beirut, leaves his home behind and tries to make a life for himself on the streets. When he befriends a migrant Ethiopian worker and her toddler, he finds himself brought into the folds of their family. But when she is arrested for not having a proper work permit, Zain is left at home with her child, forced to now care for both of them while also being a child, too.
1 Rattle the Cage
A 2015 crime thriller from the United Arab Emirates, Rattle the Cage, which is also known as Zinzana, is not one to be missed. After a man named Talal is jailed for the night after causing a minor disturbance, he finds himself the victim of a series of games. One of the police officers at the station is deeply corrupt and willing to take advantage of those jailed, and Talal is going to be his next victim. If Talal wants to make it out of there alive, he must play along, or the consequences might also impact his family and friends.