Private: Palestinian film brings occupation home
By Richard Allen Greene
BBC News
Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories makes headlines almost every day - but its occupation of individual homes is less well known. That may change with the release of a new film, Private, which dramatises just such an event.
The children respond to occupation in a variety of different ways Starring the controversial Israeli-Arab actor-director Mohammad Bakri, the tense, claustrophobic film avoids taking simplistic stands. And it even stretches tentatively towards optimism as it draws to an end.
That may be in part because the head of the family on which it is loosely based insists on seeing the humanity in the soldiers who occupy his house in the Gaza Strip.At a recent screening organised by Amnesty International, Khalil Bashir, the Gazan whose story the film tells, delivered a recorded statement about his own relationship with the Israeli soldiers.
"There is a chance to co-exist with the Israelis. I sometimes read this in the eyes of the soldiers who come and imprison me and my family in only one room.
"I read in their eyes that they behave professionally, but they are not willing, they are not satisfied with what they are doing against me."
The Palestinian family at the centre of the film - professional, well-educated parents and their five school-aged children - display a range of responses to the takeover of their house by soldiers using it as a base. Mohammad, the father, insists the family stay in their home - his own means of resistance.
Played with fierce conviction by Mr Bakri - whose own film Jenin, Jenin was not allowed to be shown in Israel until a court overturned the ban - the character shows that struggle need not be overtly violent.
It is a message his eldest daughter, the strong-willed Mariam (Hend Ayoub), has difficulty understanding. Her own resistance takes a much more dangerous form - as does that of her mechanically inclined younger brother Jamal (Marco Alsaying).
The Italian-made film could easily have descended into propaganda by rendering the young Israeli soldiers as inhuman oppressors. But they, too, represent a variety of types, from the stressed-out commander, Ofer (Lior Ofer), to the dreamy conscript who plays flute to pass the time. Ofer's second-in-command makes a fine foil to the leader, taking a stand at two critical junctures to prevent tragedy.
But while the second incident helps complete the lesson Mohammad has been trying to teach Mariam, the film does not descend into easy love-thy-neighbour sentiment. For while Mariam may have her epiphany, she is not the only one of Mohammad's children to be changed by the occupation. And while she decides to follow her stoic father's example, one of her siblings does not.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/05/06/private_2005_review.shtml
The children respond to occupation in a variety of different ways Starring the controversial Israeli-Arab actor-director Mohammad Bakri, the tense, claustrophobic film avoids taking simplistic stands. And it even stretches tentatively towards optimism as it draws to an end.
That may be in part because the head of the family on which it is loosely based insists on seeing the humanity in the soldiers who occupy his house in the Gaza Strip.At a recent screening organised by Amnesty International, Khalil Bashir, the Gazan whose story the film tells, delivered a recorded statement about his own relationship with the Israeli soldiers.
"There is a chance to co-exist with the Israelis. I sometimes read this in the eyes of the soldiers who come and imprison me and my family in only one room.
"I read in their eyes that they behave professionally, but they are not willing, they are not satisfied with what they are doing against me."
The Palestinian family at the centre of the film - professional, well-educated parents and their five school-aged children - display a range of responses to the takeover of their house by soldiers using it as a base. Mohammad, the father, insists the family stay in their home - his own means of resistance.
Played with fierce conviction by Mr Bakri - whose own film Jenin, Jenin was not allowed to be shown in Israel until a court overturned the ban - the character shows that struggle need not be overtly violent.
It is a message his eldest daughter, the strong-willed Mariam (Hend Ayoub), has difficulty understanding. Her own resistance takes a much more dangerous form - as does that of her mechanically inclined younger brother Jamal (Marco Alsaying).
The Italian-made film could easily have descended into propaganda by rendering the young Israeli soldiers as inhuman oppressors. But they, too, represent a variety of types, from the stressed-out commander, Ofer (Lior Ofer), to the dreamy conscript who plays flute to pass the time. Ofer's second-in-command makes a fine foil to the leader, taking a stand at two critical junctures to prevent tragedy.
But while the second incident helps complete the lesson Mohammad has been trying to teach Mariam, the film does not descend into easy love-thy-neighbour sentiment. For while Mariam may have her epiphany, she is not the only one of Mohammad's children to be changed by the occupation. And while she decides to follow her stoic father's example, one of her siblings does not.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/05/06/private_2005_review.shtml
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