MOVIE REVIEWS : 'Wedding': Vow of Mideast Peace : Historic conflict is at the heart of a story about a ceremony in Galilee. It's part of Golden West College's foreign film series.

MOVIE REVIEWS : ‘Wedding’: Vow of Mideast Peace : Historic conflict is at the heart of a story about a ceremony in Galilee. It’s part of Golden West College’s foreign film series.

By MARK CHALON SMITH

Oct. 1, 1993 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

HUNTINGTON BEACH —

Middle Eastern films that find an audience in America are rare, but in 1987, Michel Khleifi’s “Wedding in Galilee” had a limited run in a Los Angeles art house. Golden West College has brought the movie back as the first installment in its month-long foreign film series.

Given the recent Arab-Israeli agreement to discuss peace in the region, the choice is apt: This flawed but sensitive picture examines the historic conflict through the small frame of a traditional Arab wedding.

The groom is the son of the village elder, or mukhtar. A curfew is in effect and the mukhtar (Ali Mohammed Akili) must ask the Israeli military governor (Mabram Khouri) for permission to continue the wedding past midnight. The governor says yes, but on the condition that he and his men can attend.

The Arabs want the marriage to go smoothly, with all cultural dictums preserved. The Israelis are interested in surveillance (several political firebrands will attend). Tensions climb as the truce proves tenuous.

Filmmaker Khleifi, a Palestinian, has a bit of the peace-maker in him; “Wedding in Galilee” often comes across as a plea for understanding. But his own roots are unmistakable as he presents the Arabs more fully than the Israelis, who not only are somewhat simplistically portrayed but who also occasionally display villainous undertones.

Still, there’s little to fault in Khleifi’s focus on details, mundane and exotic alike. Events leading up to the marriage are shot by cinematographer Walther Van den Ende with an anthropologist’s zeal, complementing Khleifi’s own point of view.

* “Wedding in Galilee” (1987) by Michel Khleifi is being shown today at 7:30 p.m. in Golden West College’s Forum II Theater, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach. $3.25 and $3.75. (714) 891-3991.

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Golden West College’s

Fall Film Series:

* Oct. 1: “Wedding in Galilee” by Michel Khleifi.

* Oct. 8: “Vagabond” by Agnes Varda.

* Oct. 15: “Song of the Exile” by Ann Hui.

* Oct. 22: “Hour of the Star” by Suzana Amaral.

All screenings will be at 7:30 p.m. in GWC’s Forum II theater, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach. $3.25 and $3.75. (714)