Polarized

The political backdrop of Polarized is contemporary North America but I feel its relevance is clear in contemporary UK and Europe too. At its heart, it is a love story between two people who appear wrong for each other in every way - as defined in a cultural moment where neither side much cares to know the other. Separated by race, religion and economics, Polarized is also about two families - and it is the ties of blood that both Lisa and Dalia must learn to loosen if they are to find their true selves, alone or together.

But - it is often the jolt of love that opens us up to see the world in new ways and, as Polarized unfolds, Lisa and Dalia are challenged to move away from their upbringings, at a moment when those around them are more keen than ever to hold onto what they believe.

This tension, between openness and blinkers, between empathy and disgust with the ‘other’, is reflected in the settings of the film - the contrast between the land, and the intensive indoor technology of urban farming, is clear. As is the difference between Dalia and Lisa’s homes, their outlooks and their families.

The targeted fertility of Dalia’s farm, with its perfectly-timed, pest-free greens and fruit, cannot be stopped. It creates organic produce that Lisa steals to give her ailing father a taste of what they used to grow. And yet - it’s a controlled laboratory that is the antithesis of the elegiac American ‘field of dreams’. Lisa is penned in by the urban farm. Outdoors is her life blood. But for Dalia, the urban farm is exciting, futuristic, filled with promise. There’s a wonderful contrast between vast farmland that lies outside, and the huge buildings expanding across that same land, filled with rows of precise, perfect plants

But as we explore the landscape of those dreams - the abandoned farm that Lisa’s family has lost to medical bills; the rundown town centre that is losing wealth and families to the suburbs; Polarized becomes more than a contrast of old and new, future and past, but a canvas onto which a viewer can draw their own conclusions about the state of the world today.

Sound design will carry much of the emotional landscape too. The Arabic music that Kareem plays proudly in his cafe. The small sounds that Lisa hears in the church as her family surrounds her, and she realises what is coming next…Overlap of sound will carry us from Dalia’s world to Lisa’s and back again.

In terms of score, I wanted a delicate, spare musical counterpoint to enhance moments between the lines, which is where the real emotion of this unspoken desire and love story exists. Since Lisa’s budding career as a musician is so integral to her search for independence, her songs create a large part of the musical world of Polarized.

Polarized deals with a political moment in time that is being felt across the world. In any event, I hope that it is a story with relevance that not only points out some of the issues we face in these times, but suggests a way past them.