PJNontheGo: A Celluloid Intifada

Harry Gunkel offers some suggestions on raising the Palestinian situation – go to the movies.

Part of our Mission in EPF PJN is to “support…entities striving to preserve…cultural heritage for Palestinians.” Just now, when political pathways have been effectively blocked by the US-Israel axis, devoting some of our energies and efforts to cultural engagement provides us with ways to invigorate and sustain our activism. Specifically, several recent new films from Palestinian filmmakers and/or with Palestinian focus can keep us connected to the place and people we support. Films like “No Other Land” and “The Voice of Hind Rajab” have brought critical acclaim and international recognition.*

Over the years, many of us have used documentary films to educate and de-mythologize in our own organizing spaces and in public showings, but I suggest that the fictional films – “movies” – that are being made are better suited to the times. They represent the stories to be told. They do not omit the facts or realities; they contextualize them and situate them within the lives of Palestinians. Filmed on location, these Palestinian filmmakers are not telling a story; they are telling their story, and we ought to pay attention.

I recently watched “All That’s Left of You“. Sharif is a successful orange farmer in Jaffa, his family thriving. Then in 1947, Zionist militias steal his land and send him to a prison camp while his family escapes to Nablus. With fast-forwards, the story takes us through the events of history – the Six-Day War, the Intifadas, and the current apartheid reality – along with Sharif’s family, who live the events. It is the story of this Palestinian family – every Palestinian family – in the Nakba. Loss of home and livelihood, family separations, oppression and assaults on dignity, the death of Sharif’s grandson Noor during the Intifada at the hands of the IOF and failed apartheid health care, and finally the agonizing decision of Noor’s family whether to donate his organs to allow someone else to live. Noor’s father Salim is enraged (“you murdered him, and now you want his organs to let other murderers live!!”), but his wife and his imam counsel him: no matter what they do, do not let them take your humanity. “Your humanity is also resistance.”

In our work with Palestine and for Palestine, we are often consumed by the Big Issues: apartheid and genocide. And quite right that we are. But films like “All That’s Left of You” help us stay tethered to the core issue, the only one that matters in the end – the lives of Palestinians, their peoplehood, freedom, dignity, and humanity. Watching these films at home or in public showings does not have the verve or drama of demonstrating or visiting Congress but is its own form of resistance. When media organizations and entire national governments seek to disappear Palestine and silence Palestinians, we can help to shake that off by purchasing, viewing, talking about, and publicly showing these films. And for a few moments we can see and listen to and feel Palestinianness.

*Many of these films are shown in theaters or film festivals in selected cities, but most are also available on the various streaming services we can get at home.

Another sort of intifada could be reading the many books coming out and talking about themJ EPF PJN member Steve France reviews a new one here