Wajib means duty or obligation. And to understand the lives of Palestinians living in Israel it is a wajib to watch this film. The film tells the story of a torn family living in Nazareth. The mother has left for the states, while her husband stayed to raise their son and daughter. The narration uses the trope of movement- the protagonist (Shadi, Saleh Bakri) drives the old, battered car with his father (Mohammed Bakri) to hand out his sister’s wedding invitations to their family and friends. They make money stops in the city, thereby presenting the spatial and social components of the community. The nuances are subtle, and if you are not paying acute attention, you will miss it.
Walk into Shadi’s life
We walk into Shadi’s life uninterrupted. He is the handsome, tall, middle-aged architect who left to study in Italy and stayed there. He comes back to help with his sister’s wedding, only to re-encounter old battles and wounds left open. He is a romantic dreamer, since he dreams about liberation of Palestine, but enjoys the comforts of European life. He is like many Palestinian expatriates who left the homeland that grew unbearable and headed for a land where community functions normally (more or less). Reality bothers him, and he does not fall short on complaining about the quality of life in Nazareth whenever he has the chance. For example, while sitting in a restaurant eating Hummus, a group of soldiers walks into the local restaurant and this arouses his antagonism. Dressed in their khaki, green outfits, for him they are the enemy. Yet, what bothers him the most is his dad not being bothered- that the people have adapted to the status quo.
Different from many Palestinian films that capitalize on emotional, violent scenes of confrontations between Palestinians and Israelis, the film present more subtle and latent representation of the occupation. Even if the film is not “occupied” with the occupation, but in the background it is there. Thus, the absence of blatant scenery of humiliation or violence is harder than its presence, because it demands effort, close “watching” and understanding of the social and political mechanism. The fact that the father is worried about inviting his Jewish “friend” who will help him attain his promotion is one aspect of such subtle violence. It is not benign violence as much as it is malicious under disguise. It shows the hierarchy of power- who is in charge and who is not. Another small reminder is the name of the settlement “Upper Nazareth” or “Natseret I’llit”, which is a fancy blocks of urban housing that overlooks Nazareth. While Upper Nazareth enjoys the vistas, clean air and urban development, Nazareth is deprived from expanding its territory, and every attempt to improve is met with failure. One such example is to build an Arab university (especially in comparison with a university funded by the government built on an occupied land according to the international law!).
This is more than politics, this is life.
Reaching a boiling point that soon becomes an eruption- son and father argue violently about their battles, losses and hopes. The generation gap widens into a rife that seems unbridgeable: Shadi believes that life is freedom, and living free is the ultimate goal. On the other hand, his father presents another aspect of the matter: responsibility and duty- there are valuable things that one is born into that simply one does not let go; because letting go is easier. The father, who raised his kids by himself and worked hard all his life as an educator could have chose his freedom and acted differently by leaving his responsibilities. One can even argue that this seemingly sacrifice of freedom is the ultimate manifestation of freedom: the father could have let go and took an easier path but he chose to abide by what he believes is true, that is, family.
The film brilliantly asks the audience, what is your fight? and how are you fighting this battle? how are you fighting this occupation? is enduring life under occupation in the land is a form of resistance? how about the expatriate, is he escaping or facing the occupation in its other facets?
One of the scenes that I liked the most is when Nada’s father (Nada is Shadi’s girlfriend who is also a Palestinian living in Italy), a well-known figure in the Palestinian Liberation Movement, speaks to Shadi’s father on the phone and asks him to describe the surrounding because he misses the homeland. Shadi’s father goes on to describe this dreamy, romantic landscape of olive trees, clear skies, and cactus trees (as well as I can remember). He depicts this layout while looking at the reality around him: unpicked trash cans that are spreading their dominion on the street, congested streets and crowded housing. This scene presents the contrast between what is there and what would like to be there in the Palestinian collective imagination. The anticipation for dreamy Palestine with its olive trees is shattered, as it is reflected in the reactions of the Arab audience, who is used to the belligerent, heroic scenery of the Palestinian conquering death with martyrdom, but instead the film shows how behind such depiction there is the mundane life of a torn-family in a society that has its fair amount of problems. However, Mohammed Bakri explained that he does empathize and understand the sentiments of the Arab audience (especially in Morocco, where he received a best-actor award).
The film ends in a beautiful scene: Shadi comes home, reconciled by his neighbor who shows the positive aspect of living home: people and relationships. His neighbor tells him “your father is proud of you” and “there is no place like home” despite everything. He gets home and starts making coffee, he goes on to the balcony waiting for the water to boil, when his father arrives and prepares the coffee, brings it to the balcony to share a cigarette with his son while looking over Nazareth at night.
AICHA BINT YUSIF 