Once Upon a Time in the Middle East
When the first five words of a title are “Once Upon a Time in…,” you’re about to watch something operatic, and epic. I’ve seen enough films with that sort of title to be able to see that. After watching Muye Wen’s “Once Upon a Time in the Middle East,” that is even more clear. I wasn’t expecting operatic and epic from this film, even with its 141-minute running time, but that is what I got, and my movie watching year is all the richer for it.
The film begins in the Iraqi airport. Xu Fu (Teng Shen) has just come into the country from China. He is detained by authorities. He’s asked about his reasons for coming back to the country after two decades. When he was here last, he was held for suspected terrorism. That is what the authorities are here to ask him about. Cue the flashback to 2002. He is a young chef who has left his mother and daughter to come run a chinese restaurant in Baghdad. He meets the manager, Ma Junsheng (Qiming Jiang), and cooks for the owner, who is a government official (Sherif Sobhy), and though the first impression is not ideal, he is brought in as head chef, and Looong Restaurant becomes a success. As the 2003 Iraq War breaks out, however, it’s harder and harder for the men to keep things going. But with greater participation, Xu Fu stays on, although the closer the war hits the restaurant, maybe he would have been best to leave.
To be fair, writer-director Muye Wen (who co-wrote the screenplay with Qunli Lang and Wei Zhong) doesn’t name the country, but all the identifiers are there. For the film, the point is that war has broken out, and what is that like for the people who live there. The bureaucrats, the workers at stores and restaurants, the civilians who find themselves in a war zone. Having it through this perspective allows Muye Wen to look at life in the middle of war where it doesn’t have to do with the soldiers on either side of the conflict. We do see both the American forces, as well as insurgents, and how their efforts impact the restaurant, and everyone involved with it. That includes a young boy named Saif (Omar Sherif) whom Xu Fu takes under his wing. That bond leads to a beautiful arc throughout the film with ups and downs, especially when they end up in a military prison, and later captured by insurgents whom are molding child soldiers. This is all in flashback, and it leads to an ending I didn’t expect, and was wonderfully emotional. “Once Upon a Time in the Middle East” is not epic in its scope like other films with similar titles, but its epic nature comes from the personal nature of its story. It’s a lovely surprise.
