Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Peace by Chocolate review says it’s a heartwarming and thought-provoking treat.

Peace by Chocolate is based on the true success story of a confection shop started by Syrian refugees in Canada and whose courage and fortitude touched the entire world. Though presented as a scripted, well-acted feature, there is news footage of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and at the end, we see the actors’ real-life counterparts.

The movie starts off in war-torn Damascus, where the Hadhad family’s beloved chocolate factory is laid to waste and destroyed. With nothing left but their lives to lose, they ship out as refugees to Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada—a completely bizarre and foreign land where strangers hug you and you have to shovel this stuff called snow.

The first to arrive in North America is twenty-something Tareq (Ayham Abou Ammar), who is hoping to start fresh and become a doctor. Tareq and his kindly sponsors—Frank (Mark Camacho) and Zariah (Kathryn Kirkpatrick)—are soon joined by his non-English-speaking parents, Issam (Hatem Ali) and Shahnaz (Yara Sabri). As is expected, comedy comes from the fish-out-water situations and the language barrier—but it’s never disrespectful or stereotypical.

Peace by Chocolate is the first feature from director and co-writer Jonathan Keijser, and he does a good job of balancing the lightheartedness as it contrasts with the horrible reality behind the Hadhad family’s forced relocation and reboot.

Before long, Issam starts craving chocolate. Not just to eat, but he’s driven to restart his business. Frank helps him out by setting up sales through the local church, and while the town chocolatier, Kelly (Alika Autran) is game to join forces, Issam wants to keep it all in the family. But Tareq has his dream of making it in the medical field and sees candy-making as frivolous—until he finds the ideal solution by calling the company “Peace By Chocolate” and doing things to help others through the organization (“Peace By Chocolate” donates a portion of all company profits to the Peace On Earth Society).

Peace by Chocolate is a sweet movie (yep, I went there) about real people who overcame hardship and are still thriving—while helping others to do the same. It’s a great movie for the whole family.

Rated NR
1 hour 36 minutes

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Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Peace by Chocolate review says it’s a heartwarming and thought-provoking treat.