Arguably the most well-known Palestinian filmmaker today, Hany Abu-Assad (​​Paradise Now, Omar)’s eighth feature film Huda’s Salon poses as a political thriller, but is more of a psychological thriller set in the politically charged environment of occupied Bethlehem. Most reviewers will tell you to go in unspoiled, and while I don’t fully agree that would make for a better experience, I won’t ruin the “reveal” that occurs in the film’s first scene just in case. It will suffice to say that Huda’s salon cuts more than just hair. 

In the tradition of author (and filmmaker) Graham Greene, the political scenario, while not necessarily being a trojan horse for psychological antics, nonetheless allows the individual’s world-shattering to loom, disconnected from the larger world—an inherently un-political move through its disassociation with politics. Like a Greene novel, Huda’s Salon has its share of suicides and suicides gone amiss; affairs, perceived affairs, and could’ve-been affairs; and, of course, espionage and treason.

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