Najwa Najjar/ Palestine 2008/ 95 min/ 12A/ Arabic, English and Hebrew with English subtitles
We in the West have a crucial role to play in the Israeli/Palestine conflict. It’ll take more than boycotting Israeli fruit and herbs to counter what the US has done to block any peaceful resolution between the nations, needing Israel as they do for extracting Middle Eastern energy reserves. But Najwa Najjar’s debut feature examines the effect of Israeli oppression not on any searingly dramatic level (though much of the conflict is indeed worthy of such treatment). Instead, it’s a quietly defiant protest against the subtler ways in which the occupation misshapes the lives of even comfortable Palestinians.
Najjar has delivered a compelling debut that marks her out as one to watch
Set in Ramallah, we open with the wedding of Kamar (Yasmine Elmasri) and olive farmer Zaid (Ashraf Farah). Soon after, Israeli soldiers muscle in on their family’s farmland, imprisoning Zaid on false charges to goad him into signing a confession that might take his land away. Stubbornly refusing, he remains in jail while in his absence Kamar begins to fall for the affections of her Lebanese dance instructor Kais (Ali Suleiman).
Where the film succeeds is in implicating the political through the most intimately personal relationships. If the love triangle sometimes borders on soap-operatics, it is always charged with the tension of underlying political oppression. A barrage of solid performances is a touch undermined by Elmasri, who doesn’t always engage as a lead. But with a savvy script peppered with revealing, incisive metaphors (Kais Lebanese dancing style coming up against the traditional Palestinian style is particularly telling) and assured direction, Najjar has delivered a compelling debut that marks her out as one to watch.
Pomegranates and Myrrh showing @Filmhouse 12 Feb 18:00
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