by SARAH ROWLAND

When Soraïda's daughter role-plays with her dolls, she doesn't spend time looking for Barbie's missing red pump or questioning the anatomical accuracy of Ken's bulge. She frets over military-imposed curfews and reenacts checkpoint searches. As a politically outspoken mother raising children in the Gaza Strip, this is just one of the side effects Soraïda must deal with on the home front. While shootings and explosives are an everyday occurrence for the feisty Palestine housewife, the real bomb drops in her life when her five-year-old confides to her that he wants to kill himself so he can float up into space where there is peace. Disturbing, sad and true, Soraïda, Une femme de Palestine is one of many compelling international documentaries about Arab life that will screen at the fifth annual Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal.

On the local front, director Mahmoud Kaäbour will present his critically acclaimed hit Being Osama. This simple but poignant film profiles six Canadians, all of whom share the same infamous first name as Bin Laden. From a funked-out Christian musician to a militantly devout Muslim student, these Osamas face the same burdens of daily discrimination in a post-9/11 world. Through the toughest times, some of them contemplate temporarily changing their given names and going by the English version, Sam. But by working through their frustration of being associated with America's most wanted man, they learn to embrace their notorious first name.

The biggest Arab film festival outside the Middle East will also showcase several fictional flicks, such as Littoral. Wajdi Mouawad's Montreal-made feature follows Wahab, a young Quebecer determined to bury his father's body in his native village in Lebanon. On Saturday, Nov. 6, the ONF will host a special presentation of three films depicting life for Yemeni women as they fight for basic democratic rights, including Haïfa Mansour's short Saudi Arabian road-movie, Réflexions Croisées.

And from Morocco, Les Bandits offers some much-needed comic relief. This Arabic slapstick in the sand is the story of Didi, a crafty pickpocket who is ordered to impersonate a rich heir who has long gone AWOL.

Festival du Monde Arabe de Montreal screens Friday, Oct. 29 to Sunday, Nov. 14. For more info, visit www.festivalarabe.com

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