WHERE DO WE GO NOW?

Where Do We Go Now? makes a serious appeal for religious tolerance. Christian and Muslim women, heartsick over the deaths caused by religious strife, work together to keep their men from beginning another violent conflict. The movie finds comedy in their efforts, while still allowing room for tragedy and drama.

The film’s strongest moments are arresting, and its central concern is worthwhile. But the women rely on tricks, lying, deceit, a faked miracle, and drugs. The story also has too many characters, which weakens the emotional impact, and its final solution seems to minimize the real differences between Christianity and Islam.

The answer is clear: adults may find this worth seeing for its peaceable themes, but families with children or young teens should choose something else.

In a remote Lebanese village, a church and a mosque stand side by side. Christian and Muslim women share the grief caused by religious conflict and decide to keep their men from starting another violent confrontation.

Their efforts become increasingly difficult after incidents disturb both religious communities. As tensions rise, the women search for new ways to preserve peace before the village’s divisions erupt again.

Three stars means this is a worthwhile but uneven film. Nadine Labaki keeps the tone comical even when the story reaches moments of tragedy and drama. The movie also includes a couple of musical scenes, including a pleasing song between a Christian woman and a Muslim man about their romantic feelings.

The main artistic problem is the large number of characters. Their stories dilute the central narrative, and viewers may feel they never come to know anyone deeply. One romantic relationship, though nice in itself, seems extraneous to the main story.

The film argues for religious tolerance through Christian and Muslim women working together to prevent violence. It presents small differences and problems as causes of conflict that should not lead to bloodshed. The women’s shared grief and desire for peace are humane concerns, and the movie treats cooperation across religious lines as an ideal.

The film’s methods complicate that message. The women use tricks, lying, deceit, a faked miracle, and drugs to control the men. Its final solution has the married women and mothers switch religions, which seems politically correct because it minimizes the real differences between Christianity and Islam. That solution also weakens the film’s argument that religious wars are absurd.

The source review notes that religious tolerance may be an ideal among Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, but says differences between religions cannot be papered over by utopian notions of peace and hope. Christians should be free to appeal openly to the conscience of others while remembering that God, working through the Holy Spirit, brings people to the truth. As 2 Timothy 2:24–26 says, “The Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”

Where Do We Go Now? offers adults arresting drama, comedy, music, and a serious plea for peace. Its crowded story, deceitful methods, foul language, and minimizing resolution keep it from being suitable for children or young teens. For discerning adults, it is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For a family movie night, see.