WAJIB (THE WEDDING INVITATION)
Palestine, 96 minutes, Colour.
Mohammed Bakri, Saleh Bakri.
Directed by Annemarie Jacir.
Well, this is one way to spend a day – a father and son driving around Nazareth delivering invitations to a wedding to family, friends, acquaintances.
While there are some comically cheerful sequences, the underlying themes of Wajib are very serious.
The setting is very important. The focus is on a family living in Nazareth, an Arab city in Israel. For those who have a gospel-image of Nazareth, and have never been there, it might be quite a surprise to see it as a contemporary city, the streets and the constant traffic, the range of buildings, the hills (and the number of houses with many images of Mary who, after all, came from there).
The film is a serious reminder of the difficulties for Arabs living in Nazareth – which are less considerable than for the who live in the occupied territories. Nevertheless, the point is made that there are limitations on the freedoms of the Arabs, the schools and staff as well as curricula are kept under surveillance by officials, some issues prohibited, that some occupations are not open to Arabs, the instance mentioned here being pilots. And, while many aspects of life are comfortable enough, the Arabs feel that they are second-class citizens.
The drama highlighting these perspectives involves father and son. The daughter and sister is about to be married, preparations are underway, there is even a side visit to the dress shop where the young woman is trying out a variety of dresses. The father has been a teacher in a local school and has ambitions to be promoted to headmaster. The son, on the other hand, had something of a controversial background when he was growing up, strong political stances through a cinema club, the father feeling that it was best for his son to move out of Israel. The son now lives in Italy, works as an architect, lives with his companion whose father is a former PLO member. The son has no desire to come back to live in Israel.
In fact, the criticisms come through the dialogue given to the son. There is a powerful sequence of verbal and emotional clashes, especially towards the end when both men get out of their car and there is a strong confrontation, especially on the occasion of the father wanting to invite the Jewish representative whom he sees as his friend but In the son denounces as a spy, over the years reporting activities to the Israeli authorities, controlling education.
Along the way, as father and son drive around the city side delivering the invitations, there are quite a number of pleasing vignettes, visits to family homes, discussions about family matters, some socialising, the son having a beer with an old friend who is satisfied living in Nazareth…
The action takes place only over the daylight hours of one day so it is really a drama of raising the issues – but, with a somewhat gentle ending, not entirely a resolution, but some hope, if not for Nazareth, for the father and son and their relationship.
1. A Palestinian film? The Arabs who live in Israel? Nazareth? The political and cultural perceptions? The perspectives of different audiences? In Israel itself, Arabs in Palestine and in Israel?
2. The city of Nazareth, the visits, driving through it for a day, the range of roads, buildings, hills? The musical score and atmosphere? Arabic songs? Quite Shade of Pale? Evoking the past?
3. The introduction on the radio, the listing of the deaths, the ages of those who died, the Interfaith funerals, Muslim, Orthodox, Catholic?
4. A film about the father and son? The preparation for the wedding, Amal and her father, Amal and her brother coming from Italy? The father, the invitations, his being a headmaster and hoping for promotion, teaching in school? Smoking and his health? The revelation that his wife had left him, remarried? His son, political attitudes in the past, the cinema club, his being considered dangerous, his being sent away? Working in Italy as an architect? His father fostering the information that he was a doctor? The son, living in Italy, living with Nada, the PLO father?
5. Waiting for phone calls from their mother, her husband dying, whether she would come not, her former husband’s attitude towards her and her behaviour? The son saying she chose what you wanted to do? The reactions to the final phone call, the husband’s death, her coming to the wedding?
6. A day delivering the invitations, the customs of Nazareth, the range of relations, visits, talking? A series of vignettes of characters in Nazareth? Driving the car, the cousin with the fine and the son agreeing to have his name on the ticket? The family, the visitor and the father going to the car to write him an invitation? The discussions about Ronnie, Jewish, coming to the wedding? The son’s antipathy towards him, accusing him of being a spy, controlling all the curricula, teachers? Suppressing Arabic and Palestinian ideas?
7. The visit to the dress shop, Amal, trying on the dresses, the moment of calm and happiness?
8. The father and son arguing, getting out of the car, the vivid interaction, especially about Ronnie and his role, the hitting of the dog and moving on? The son meeting the neighbour, sitting and sharing a beer, the bread roll, ideas?
9. The son, clashes with the father, ideology, the father saying what it was like to live in Nazareth, comfort, yet the son talking about the oppression, the laws, Arabs not being able to be pilots…? The continued surveillance, humiliation? Yet being at home and surviving?
10. The final visit to the home, the quiet, preparing the coffee, the father and son smoking, the phone call from the mother, the resolve and the anticipation of the wedding?
