The Syrian Bride is a fascinating movie that was made in 2004 and was directed by Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis. This film is an emotional exploration of borders and the complications that can come with these border crossings. Mona, a young Druze woman in Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, is arranged to marry a Syrian actor, Tallel. A daunting and inconvenient fact remains that once Mona marries Tallel she may never return to her village in the Golan Heights (Seret Film Festival, n.d.). This essay will be an exploration of the film and analysis of the themes of liminality and lived religion that can be seen in the movie. 

There were several factors that led to the 1967 War. Dov Waxman explains some of these factors were,

There were many factors that contributed to the outbreak of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war—widely known as the “Six-Day War” (Arabs refer to it as the “June War”). Persistent tension between Israel and its Arab neighbors (often heightened by cross-border attacks by Palestinian fighters and harsh Israeli retaliations), Israel’s sense of encirclement and vulnerability, an Egyptian–Israeli arms race fueled by the Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, a water dispute between Israel and Syria that led to frequent border clashes, and inter-Arab rivalries (particularly between Nasser’s Egypt and the new Ba’athist regime in Syria) were all indirect or proximate causes of the 1967 war. (Waxman, 2019, pp. 78–79)

The IDF was able to quickly defeat the Egyptian and Jordanian forces and gained control of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. These quick victories allowed Israel to focus its forces to conquer the Golan Heights in southwestern Syria which was seen as strategically valuable for Israel (Waxman, 2019, p. 81). Hafez al-Assad seized power in a coup in 1970 and he began to build a regime that lasted past his death in 2000. Assad  formed a relationship between the regime and the Druze (Stern, 2025). Assad pragmatically favored the Druze to prevent his regime from falling into revolts like other regimes in the past (Phillips, 2020, p. 12).

Arnold van Gennep’s work The Rites of Passage has been a foundational text for examining transitional periods. His theory that an individual’s life is primarily composed of three periods—separation from the old role, a middle ground called the “liminal” period, and assumption of the new role—is a primary framework of his academic work (van Gennep, 1909/1960, p. 1). Victor Turner later expanded the work of van Gennep and examined the roles of structure, geography, and emotional condition in his work The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (Carson, 2019, p. xxi). This work opened the door to a more comprehensive examination of the concept of liminality. Turner’s work on rituals led him to the conclusion that “liminal entities are neither here nor there; they are betwixt and between the positions assigned and arrayed by law, customs, convention and ceremonial” (Turner, 1969/1977, p. 95). Later theorists like Bjørn Thomassen have expanded the concept of liminality to where it can include single entities and larger groups. According to Thomassen, experiences of liminality can be subjected to three different types of subjecthood: single individuals, social groups, and whole societies (Thomassen, 2014, p. 89).

Carolin Leutloff-Grandits examines the concept of liminality by applying this concept to borders and in-between states created by governments. She examines the concept of the “grey zone” in which states govern migrants by appealing to ambiguous social and legal spaces (Leutloff-Grandits, 2025). 

These legal spaces could be areas where different states have distinct border regimes. Grey zones can also cause complications because they emerge as zones where a nation’s laws can overlap with different legal orders, which can create states of liminality for those entrapped into one of these gray zones. Marotta discusses the potentially permanent nature of liminality relating to migration by refugees. The liminal refugee space is characterized by a degree of uncertainty due to certain social-legal constraints. Thus, the shift from temporary to permanent liminality as an analytical tool is more evidenced in recent research on migrants (Marotta, 2025). 

The political and legal ramifications that create liminal experiences can also have an influence on different religious communities and their practices. The phenomenon of how different individuals could practice their religion in their everyday lives and in their own fashion is what Meredith McGuire calls “lived religion” (McGuire, 2008). Lived religion could also allow individual practitioners to live out their religion in ways that went against mainstream doctrine. McGuire notes, “Rather, people construct their religious worlds together, often sharing vivid experiences of that intersubjective reality” (McGuire, 2008, p. 12). Within the context of differing borders and liminal states, religious beliefs, practices, and communities can function in different ways.

The movie The Syrian Bride (Riklis, 2004) starts in the Syrian village of Majdal al-Shams  in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Many of the nearby villagers are congratulating Mona on her upcoming marriage. Her marriage was arranged to a Syrian actor named Tallel. He announces to his coworkers that he is going to be getting married today and she falls in love with Mona after seeing her picture. 

After the death of Hafez al-Assad and the ascension of Bashar al-Assad, many of the Syrians are mourning his loss. A commander in the IDF is explaining to his soldiers that some of the Druze of the Golan could provoke the Assad supporters, which could turn violent. Mona and her mother put out a video to Tallel encouraging him to love her because she will not be able to return after the wedding, which confuses the Israeli cameraman Arik.  At this stage, Mona is experiencing the moment that can be used to define liminal experiences. Thomassen explained how a certain event is the catalyst for starting an individual’s liminal identity (Thomassen, 2014, p. 89). She has not yet entered the in-between stage and she is being congratulated among her Druze community.

The elders in the Druze community express lament that Hamed’s, Mona’s dad’s son Hattem is coming to the wedding. An elder states, “as far as we are concerned he’s outcast since he married a Russian if he shows up you won’t see us here” (The Syrian Bride, 2004). The Druze elders express support for Hamed but they state that Hattem attending the wedding would be against the Druze religion and he would lose their support. Community can be important for the Druze religion. For the Druze, this is a group of people seeking spiritual enlightenment (Wahab, 2025, p. 28). This scene also is reflective of the Druze belief that Druze should marry within the faith. Those that do marry outsiders apart from the Druze faith are seen to be negatively influencing their children in this life and in future lives as well (Russell, 2015, p. 142). 

Two UN workers  working at the border are watching demonstrations of the ascension of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on TV. They are aware of the marriage at the border and one states, “She loses her identity on the way and she gets a new one in Syria” (The Syrian Bride, 2004). The other asks, “How will she come back to the Golan?” (The Syrian Bride, 2004) to which the other replies, “She won’t she becomes a Syrian citizen so the Israeli won’t let her in and the Syrian won’t let her out” (The Syrian Bride, 2004). The dilemma of the movie is now explained and the process of Mona’s rite of passage into Syria 

Pro-Syria demonstrations are being held in Majdal al-Shams following the death of Hafez Assad. Mona’s father goes out with the protestors despite his status as being under probation by Israeli authorities. The Druze community here could be seen as experiencing Thomassen’s concept of liminality as it relates to the subjecthood of a whole society (Thomassen, 2014, p. 90). The death of Assad serves as the temporal dimension, as the Druze and Syrian community is in an in-between state. Hafez and other Syrians dislike the Israelis so the questions needing to be answered can relate to how the new Syrian president will deal with the Israelis and if the Golan can be returned to Syria. Several of the protestors chanted that this area should belong to Syria 

Mona’s mother went to an Israeli station called Kiryat Shmona.Despite the humiliation Amin may have felt, she wanted him to see Mona be married at the border. The wedding procession continues until Mona is bestowed congratulations by some of the residents of Majdal Shams as she begins to drive to the border with her family. When Mona’s mom and her sisters are held to the Israeli-controlled checking part of Syria, they enter into a new territory. For Mona, this could be seen as her entering into a “grey zone” as Leutloff-Grandits (2025) described. She is entering into Syria for the wedding but Israeli forces controlled the border and would make decisions on who would be allowed in or not. She is entering into the in-between space between the Golan Heights and Syria. Mona’s father was unable to enter what the Israeli commander called a “military zone” (The Syrian Bride, 2004). The Israeli commander’s attempt to arrest Mona’s dad could be seen as reflecting the ambiguity of this territory since he attempts to do so without a warrant. Mona needs the stamp of the Israeli official on her passport to enter into Syria. In this part of the movie, the stamp functions as a type of symbol that allows Mona to cross over from the liminal phase and into her new role as Tallel’s wife.

During the time of Mona’s wedding, the Golan Heights was occupied by Israel. An Israeli diplomat put a stamp on Mona’s passport. The Syrian border guard took issue with this because he believed that Mona didn’t go into Israel despite Israel occupying the Golan Heights. This scene is important because it can reflect the way that many Syrians feel about the Golan Heights. When Ahmed-al Sharaa took control of the presidency after the fall of Assad, he expressed similar views. He stated, “No attempts at imposing a fait accompli can undermine the legitimacy of our state, the sovereignty of our law, or the force of international law,” al-Sharaa said. “The Golan will remain a Syrian land” (The Associated Press, 2026, para. 5). The Syrian border guard explains in the movie that the stamp was a part of a policy in which Israel declares that the Golan belongs to them, but Syria will never agree to that. 

The issue of the stamp prevented Mona from crossing into Syria, but she yelled across the border to Tallel. Thomassen also views liminality as a spatial concept, and it can relate to areas, zones and ‘closed institutions’ (Thomassen, 2014, p. 91). In this dimension, the spatial dimension is the gate that separates Mona from Tallel that she is unable to cross due to the stamp issue. This continues to be an issue even after the stamp was crossed off by the Israeli official. When the family starts to leave the gate, an Israeli soldier opens the gate. Mona is seen walking towards Syria towards her future husband in Syria. When discussing walking, the authors examined a concept they call “the void” in relation to liminal spaces. They note, “It is only if these two presences, the human and the divine, meet in the absence of the void that walking as a significant experience can take place” (Szakolczai & Horvath, 2018, p. 10). Mona is seen walking towards a new life in which she entered into a new life to end the movie. Mona looks back and sees her mom crying and smiles at her to conclude The Syrian Bride.

The Syrian Bride is a fantastic movie that discusses and analyzes the tensions around borders. This film can also bring aspects of the Druze faith to those who aren’t as familiar. Anyone interested in the theories of Victor Turner should enjoy watching The Syrian Bride. 

References

Carson, T. (2019). Introduction. In T. Carson (Ed.), Neither here nor there: The many voices of liminality (pp. xxi–xxiv). The Lutterworth Press.

Leutloff-Grandits, C. (2025). The grey zone and liminality as complementary conceptual approaches for border and migration studies: Capturing structural ambiguities and migrants’ experiences of border regimes. Current Issues in Migration Research, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.24834/cimr.2025.1.1919

Marotta, V. (2025). Rethinking liminality in refugee and migration studies. Ethnicities, 25(3), 339–357. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968251328675

McGuire, M. B. (2008). Lived religion: Faith and practice in everyday life. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172621.001.0001

Phillips, C. (2020). The battle for Syria: International rivalry in the new Middle East (Rev. ed.). Yale University Press.

Riklis, E. (Director). (2004). The Syrian bride [Film]. Eran Riklis Productions; MACT Productions; Neue Impuls Film.

Russell, G. (2015). Heirs to forgotten kingdoms: Journeys into the disappearing religions of the Middle East. Basic Books.

Seret Film Festival. (n.d.). The Syrian bride. https://www.seretfilmfestival.org/thesyrianbride

Stern, M. (2025, September 22). Ahmad Sharawi on the Druze and their prospects in Syria. Middle East Forum. https://www.meforum.org/podcasts/ahmad-sharawi-on-the-druze-and-their-prospects-in-syria

Szakolczai, A., & Horvath, A. (2018). Walking into the void: A historical sociology and political anthropology of walking. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315445922

The Associated Press. (2026, September 23). Syrian leader lashes out at Israel in UN speech, says Golan is inseparable part of Syria. ABC News. https://abcnews.com/amp/US/wireStory/syrian-leader-lashes-israel-speech-golan-inseparable-part-136689958

Thomassen, B. (2014). Liminality and the modern: Living through the in-between. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315592435

Turner, V. W. (1977). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Cornell University Press. (Original work published 1969)

van Gennep, A. (1960). The rites of passage (M. B. Vizedom & G. L. Caffee, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1909)

Wahab, O. (2025). The conceptual foundations of the Druze faith.

Waxman, D. (2019). The Israeli-Palestinian conflict: What everyone needs to know. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/wentk/9780190625320.001.0001