HUDA’S SALON: Tightly Packed Thriller Delivers

What makes a thriller a success? For many, it is the combination of intrigue and obliterating action. For others, it is the fear of the unknown, heightened anticipation and lack of predictability that crafts the edge-of-your-seat experience. Yet, where the first finds its strength in the action, the latter has a greater chance to draw from the recesses of the mind, launching off psychology and fear within social commentary to pulsate a narrative into action. This is the case for Hany Abu-Asad’s Huda’s Salon.

A Brutal Thriller

Huda’s Salon is an effectively brutal thriller that finds its strength in dialogue and anticipation, leaving predictability behind and plunging into the heart of war. Though it is not a war played out on the streets of occupied Palestine. Instead, it lives in the abandoned underbelly where those from above are forcefully plucked from the safety and sanctity of their lives to obscurity the of traitors, blackmail, and inevitable death.

Taking place in occupied Palestine, Huda’s Salon follows the terrifying entrapment of Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi) as she is forcibly recruited to be a traitorous spy. Given a number to call to report any information on rebel actions, she is promised money and protection from the family shattering photographic blackmail obtained by her hairdresser. In a country always at war, there truly are no safe havens. What makes Huda’s Salon stand on edge is not only the struggle Reem now faces, death a final blow no matter the choice, but it also follows Huda, the woman who entraps her. As the film delves further, it captures the true sacrifices of war, each person’s involvement having more behind the scenes than originally thought – and humans just trying to survive at its very core.

Success In Its Core

Huda’s Salon is a tightly paced thriller that finds its intensity in the question of living or dying. There is little action within the film, the intensity driven by dialogue and anticipation. Where the opening is shocking, viewers are taken aback as the film’s central character Reem and the audience come to an abrupt realization of the dire situation Reem is in. The performance of Reem by Maisa Abd Elhadi pushes the intensity and edge of your seat feeling of the film. There is terror that is constantly shaking her core, and while she struggles to keep her character together in the presence of others, Elhadi allows Reem to visually experience every emotion associated with her trauma. And while Huda’s role is predictable, Reem’s is less certain. And given the nature of the forces, she is up against, there is no certainty she will escape her situation unscathed – a truth Elhadi captures to perfection.

There is also a quietness that exists in Huda’s Salon, an almost silence that is only cut by the immense anxiety of Reem and the uncertainty of whether survival is even a possibility. It is not just the energy and intensity around Reem that creates the noise or the static, it is her own thoughts radiating out of the screen – the idea of a traitor and being “unclean”. But it is not only Reem that brings the heat. It also resides in the opposing force of Huda (Manal Awad), whose own part to play in Reem’s inevitable downfall faces its own retribution.

Huda’s role finds opposing sides conversing, each side knowing the eventual outcome, but each taking a moment to understand the other. There is a deep and rich nature to the action of taking a moment, breathing in the finality of a conversation and allowing it to alter your opinions and actions – even if on the smallest level. It speaks to the power of dialogue in war, encouraging opposing sides to hear where the other is coming from, why they felt their actions were necessary and humanizing an enemy.

Conclusion

Huda’s Salon also reflects on a society’s treatment of their women, the men closest to them incapable of faith, while those in power capable of influencing and blackmailing them into submission. And beyond the influence of the power of men, women are not excused either. When one woman is compromised, she turns on her fellow women, forcefully recruiting them to the ranks of traitors and leaving them to deal with the “unclean” station they now find themselves in. It speaks deeply to the devaluing of women as nothing more than mere pawns and foundations to boost survival.

Huda’s Salon is not your traditional thriller, yet is not one to be overlooked. With a tightly paced narrative and engaging characters, Huda’s Salon has more than just thrills to deliver.

Have you seen Huda’s Salon? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!

Huda’s Salon will be released in theaters and VOD on March 4, 2022!