ScreenWize

Filmmaker Elia Suleiman was the first Palestinian filmmaker to play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival with his 2002 film Divine Intervention, winning the Jury Prize. His latest film is a fantastic fusion of absurdist theatre and poignant autobiography, a sweeping panorama composed of the small moments that make up a half-century in the life of a Palestinian family beginning in 1948 when the State of Israel was created. Suleiman’s screenplay found its beginning in his father’s diary entries following the war, and these early years, the first third of the film, are some of its better moments.

In Nazareth, in Isreal’s north, Fuad Suleiman (Saleh Bakri) sits with his friends at a cafe as soldiers representing the various forces occupying their region come and go in a ballet of confusion. Suleiman deserves applause here for a minor masterpiece of absurdist physical comedy in the vein of Chaplin or Keaton. When Fuad, a freedom fighter, is tortured by the occupying forces, blindfolded and lined up before a firing squad, we are treated to a lush soundscape of boots crunching on gravel and the wind throwing around the leaves of the surrounding olive trees. These small things – Suleiman is sharing with us the heightened senses of the blindfolded man, even though we can see what is happening – are what make him a great filmmaker.

The film isn’t perfect – Suleiman loves repetition and stops barely short of labouring his points, he throws in more symbolism than an eleventh grade English essay, and everyone looks a bit too well fed and well groomed which gives the historical segments a confusingly modern look. Yet despite his personal involvement in the story, he remains a detached wry observer of the endless and tortuous tension between Israel and Palestine.

Fuad is eventually disappeared, leaving his wife and young son, who is sent to a Zionist school, and himself eventually exiled from the country – his return in middle age makes up the second half of the film, returning to his aged mother and her karaoke loving Chinese domestic help. I must confess that Suleiman screenplay won’t do much for you if you aren’t already familiar with Middle Eastern history – his dialogue is sparse and he doesn’t spell out exactly who or at times even when his players are. Those who are familiar will think this one of the wittiest and finest pieces of modern cinema, and those who aren’t familiar will probably just feel a little lost.

Rating:

CK

Filed Under: Reviews by Simon