a sequence from the teacher
A home that had been lived in for years was bulldozed by Israeli forces in front of its residents, leaving behind a pile of tangible memories beneath the debris. A young man protesting against the burning of an olive grove was shot by a settler with great casualness and casualness, as if it was the most ordinary thing. Soldiers violently enter every house in a village in search of a kidnapped Israeli soldier.
At least some of the images are from the debut film by British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi Teacher, This is what one can expect from a film that narrates the everyday struggles of Palestinians, being screened in the World Cinema section at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Yet, the film does not survive on the strength of its purpose alone. It has a compelling story that connects emotionally with anyone who has some sympathy for oppressed people anywhere in the world.
TeacherInspired by a real story, or rather several real stories, Basem (Saleh Bakri) stars as a West Bank-based English teacher attempting to instill some sanity and the ideas of peaceful resistance into his students, many of whom have come from their own conflicts. Have passed. Captured area. Basem’s main concern is for his brothers Yacoub (Mahmoud Bakri) and Adam (Muhammad Abed Elrahman), both of whom were detained as teenagers in an Israeli prison for a few years simply for protesting.
The sheer injustice of having their home randomly bulldozed by Israeli forces would drive the brothers to violent retaliation, but Bassam acts as a kind of safety valve, impressing upon them the futility of retaliatory violence. . But any notion of Bassam being a peacemaker is soon refuted by well-placed, intermittent memories of his past, his role in the resistance movement, and the personal loss he has suffered. One gets the real depth and breadth of this character only as the plot develops, revealing a practical intelligence that could be misconstrued as world-weariness.
Their story parallels an American couple’s search for their son, a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, who has been kidnapped by a Palestinian group demanding the release of more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners, Which also includes a good number of women and children. Initially, this appears to be a weak attempt to bring balance to a narrative where none exists, but it further highlights the oddity of the entire situation.
It also sets up a tense, well-staged encounter between two fathers mourning for their sons – Bassem who has already lost his son to Israeli violence and an American who is searching for his kidnapped son. The American father is shown to be more sympathetic given the inhumane torture Palestinians suffer at checkpoints, through which he and his companion move freely. The only aspect that stands out to some extent is the romance between Bessam and Lisa (Imogen Poots), a British volunteer at the school. Although parts of their emotional encounters work, too often their interactions appear as unnecessary distractions from an otherwise strong, tightly structured plot.
It has now become rare to see a film that talks about the Palestinian plight at any popular film festival in the country as there are incidents of such films being removed from the programs after being included in some festivals. Most of the audience at the packed screening of the film at IFFK were aware of the importance of the screening, and were appreciative of all the parts that were worthy of appreciation.
One can sense the simmering and justified anger beneath the surface TeacherWhich makes its voice of logic all the more admirable.
published – December 17, 2024 07:36 PM IST
