After last year’s untimely choice of Tel Aviv as the Toronto International Film Festival’s City to City focus, just months after Israel had committed a major crime against humanity in Gaza, the presence of three great films in support of the Palestinian struggle was highly welcomed at this year’s festival last month.
They each resemble previous films on the same subjects, but raise the bar of quality films dealing with the liberation of Palestinians from Israeli occupation.
A heartwarming documentary, "Precious Life," focuses on the attempt to save the life of a Palestinian child dying from a lack of an immune system in an Israeli hospital. The search for a bone marrow donor becomes a political and social nightmare with obstacles on both sides of The Wall.
The theme is similar to last year’s poignant saga of a Palestinian man’s attempt to locate recipients for the living organs from his young son killed by Israeli soldiers. In "Heart of Jenin" the decision to select Israeli children as a gesture of peace was met by obstacles on both sides of the Israeli-constructed separation wall.
In the events depicted in this year’s "Precious Life," a plea for help was made to the Israeli public with the aid of a prominent Israeli journalist, Shlomi Eldar, a war correspondent in the Gaza Strip for over 20 years. An Israeli man choosing to remain anonymous donated the $55,000 necessary for the operation and the search began for the proper donor. Eldar also directed the film, which centers around two committed doctors at the Israeli hospital located near the Gaza border, and Eldar’s humane approach to the subject, transcending the political divide, is near heroic.
The baby’s mother, Raida, is ostracized from her family which feels she has betrayed her people by working with Israeli doctors, and Eldar is confronted by his fears that the baby that he is trying to save could possibly grow up to be a "terrorist" bomber who will kill his people. The irony is that the Palestinian doctor featured in the film lost his three daughters in the Israeli bombing of Gaza, during the making of the film.
The Toronto festival treated the public to the premiere of artist/filmmaker Julian Schnabel’s newest film, "Miral," based on the best-selling biography by Palestinian writer/journalist Rula Jebreal. Told in four segments, the film chronicles the history of the Palestinian people from the day of their expulsion from their homes in the 1940s to the mid-1990s through the lives of four women. The real-life story of the dedicated Hind Husseini, who began a school for orphans left from the 1948 war, is portrayed with passion by the talented Hiam Abbass ("Amreeka," "Lemon Tree").
The last segment features Frieda Pinto ("Slumdog Millionaire") as Miral, a teen enticed to join the liberation movement but held back by the cautious schoolmistress Husseini in an attempt to save her from the brutal realities of occupation. Of course, author Jebreal eventually left her homeland to become a successful journalist, gaining the opportunity to work on behalf of her people back home.
Like previous films mentioned here, "Miral" is similar to one from last year – the autobiographical "The Time That Remains," directed by another world renowned filmmaker, Palestinian Elia Suleiman. In this equally artistic masterpiece, Suleiman records the Israeli occupation from day one to the present day, told through members of his family as they each fall victim to the expansionist policies of the Israeli state.
Jewish director Schnabel in his opening remarks at the Toronto screening of his film explained his attraction to the story. He remembered as a child in Brooklyn his mother raising funds for the Jews expelled from Europe after World War II and saw the tragic parallels to the Palestinians driven from their homeland as depicted in Jebreal’s book.
The festival offered probably unintentional signs of hope for the struggling Palestinians. The Algerian epic "Outside the Law" gave powerful claim to the eventual victory over occupation rightfully owed to any nation of people determined to regain their homeland. At the screening of "Miral" a definite turning point was sensed in the attempt to bring the Palestinian struggle to the world stage. The sold out audience of filmgoers, most not Palestinian or Jewish, gave the film a long standing ovation for its sympathetic portrayal of ordinary people under extreme oppression, cementing the notion that the tide is finally turning for public support for the plight of Palestinians.
And another positive result came from the protests of last year’s choice of Tel Aviv as the city of focus. This year the 2nd annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival continues its presentation of some of the finest films dealing with the subject of this column. It runs from Oct. 2 to 8 at several venues including the Bloor Theater and the newly built Beit Zatoun cultural center.
Relevant websites:
www.cinephil.co.il (Precious Life)
www.tpff.ca (Toronto Palestine Film Festival)
www.cinemajenin.org (Cinema Jenin)
www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/heart-of-jenin/video-full-episode/5120/Â (Heart of Jenin)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5-mhBWBfDg (Tears of Gaza)
www.toshootanelephant.com/Â (To Shoot an Elephant)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck96h97y9Vs (Miral)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmUPHXAC3Lk (Time That Remains)
http://www.shadowandact.com/?p=24125Â (Outside the Law)
October 5, 2010