MILH HADHA AL BAHR (SALT OF THIS SEA)

Palestine/France/US, 2008, 110 minutes, Colour.
Suheir Hammad, Saleh Bakri, Riyad Ideis.
Directed by Anne Marie Jacir.

Any film which captures the present situation in Palestine and in Israel is welcome. This film is emotionally heavyweight but, as screenplay, it is dramatic-lite. It is a heartfelt film from Annemarie Jacir, herself a Palestinian who lives in Ramallah (which she uses as part of the plot and photographs tellingly).

Brooklyn-born Soraya (Suheir Hammad) arrives for a visit to Israel and is subjected (for her own security!) to a series of grillings at the airport about her name, its pronunciations and origin, about her parents (born in Lebanon) and her grandparents (born in Jaffa). The mood is set.

One of her aims in coming to Ramallah is to check her grandfather’s back account, frozen after 1948 with the present owners finding every way to stop payment. A chance traffic encounter with a waiter, Emad (Saleh Bakri) at a restaurant she went to with friends leads to a daring escapade and a surreptitious visit to Israel with Emad and his film-maker friend enables them to see what life in Israel in prosperity despite the security is really like, the countryside, the imposingly menacing wall, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the beaches and the sea and a visit to Soraya’s grandfather’s house. The Israeli occupier of the house welcomes them but Soraya wants an acknowledgement that the house was stolen from her grandfather, something the Israeli is unwilling to do – and one cannot help thinking of claims made after World War II for property stolen from Jewish owners in Europe to be acknowledged. The couple then visit Emad’s village of origin only to find it destroyed.

Again, no easy answers but many questions in a story that stirs the emotions.

1.The impact of the film? The Palestinians? Israelis? World audiences? Knowledge of the background, sympathies?

2.The director, her being Palestinian? Her living in Ramala – and her use of Ramala as a city, the scenes in the town, the people, homes, restaurants, the bank? Authentic atmosphere? Her real feeling?

3.The locations in Palestine, in Israel, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, the Mediterranean, the beaches? The contrast in buildings and affluence between Israel and Palestine?

4.The opening, the arrival of Soraya in Israel, from Brooklyn, the grillings and interrogations, continued, the search, the humiliation? Her being let through? Her going to Palestine, phoning Corinne, making contact, staying with her? The meal at the restaurant? Life in Palestine?

5.Going to the bank, her grandfather’s will, his account? Her being put off by the bankers? The courtesy of the Palestinians? The British Palestine Bank and the manager, offering a loan?

6.The chance encounter with Emad, his work in the restaurant, the car, her getting a lift, getting his nephew, the nephew’s comments, going to see his mother, the courtesy and the welcome in the house?

7.Emad, his personality, the scholarship for Canada, wanting to get away? The friendship with Soraya? His friend Marwan and the film-making, the discussions?

8.The decision to rob the bank, the masks, carrying it out, getting away?

9.The decision to go into Israel, the Star of David, the caps, getting through the pass? Enjoying Israel, the landscapes, the city of Jerusalem, their experiencing it freely? Going to old pre-1948 buildings? Going to the sea, in the water? Going to Jaffa?

10.The grandfather’s house, the Israeli woman welcoming them in, looking at the house, asking about the furniture? Soraya and her emotional reactions? Her wanting the Israeli woman to acknowledge that it had been robbed from the Palestinians? The woman’s refusal? The tension?

11.The decision to go to Emad’s village, asking the way, finding it in ruins? The decision to stay there?

12.Their being moved on, the separation of Soraya and Emad? Soraya and her decision to be Palestinian and stay? Emad and his future?

13.The familiar drama of the story? But the emotional investment in the story? Dispossession, the returns, the claiming of property, the new owners – and the dilemmas for Israelis and Palestinians?