DUBAI: “The events of the film are from almost a century ago, but it is still so relevant to daily life in Palestine,” director Annemarie Jacir told Arab News last year of her latest feature, “Palestine 36.” And, indeed, that’s one of the main takeaways from the movie, which arrived on Netflix this month after considerable success on the festival circuit: a feeling that little has changed for the Palestinians since.
The film covers roughly a year (from 1936) in the lives of a wide-ranging cast of characters and tracks the beginnings of the uprising against British colonial rule and Zionist expansion in Palestine.
It is, above all, a beautifully shot period piece. The attention to visual detail is stunning — from costumes to background. The acting, too, is convincing, with an array of stars from both Western and Arab cinema including Jeremy Irons as the frustratingly ‘Britain-knows-best’ high commissioner Sir Arthur Wauchope; Saleh Bakri as a rebel leader; Hiam Abbas as proud matriarch Hanan; and Yasmine Al-Massri as Khouloud, a prominent Jerusalem-based journalist who writes under a male pseudonym and is married to Amir (Dhaffer L’Abidine), an editor who — unknown to Khouloud — is, let’s say, less committed to resisting Zionism than his wife.
But just as convincing as the big names are the child actors who are a significant presence throughout — particularly Wardi Eilabouni as Afra and Ward Helou as Kareem. If there’s a ‘lead character,’ it is Yusuf (Karim Daoud Anaya), a young man from a mountain village who works for Amir in Jerusalem, and whose initial political apathy is transformed into revolutionary fervor by the injustices he experiences.
The narrative, as you’d expect given its historical significance, is a gripping one, offering insight into how British brutality — the collective punishment led by the villainous, arrogant Captain Orde Wingate (Robert Aramayo), for example — and the West’s backing for a Jewish state meant that a violent uprising was all but inevitable.
It’s an ambitious film, although not all of its ambitions are realized. The sprawl of characters, and Jacir’s attempts to ensure each gets some kind of ‘moment’ on screen, mean they often serve more as symbols than as convincing individuals. It also results in some clunky editing, with several scenes jarringly cut.
However, the film’s cinematography, design, performances, and the importance of its message, outweigh these faults. This is a story worth hearing.
