Farha (spoilers)
This week I watched Farha on Netflix.
Its probably the most profound film I've ever seen. It tells the story of a teenage Palestinian girl in 1948, who was living in what is now Israel.
At the beginning of the film, she's just a normal girl, hoping her Dad doesn't marry her off before she gets a chance to go to college. Then, on an average day, like any other, all of a sudden there is the sound of explosions and gunfire.
Soldiers come to the village, to force everyone out of their homes. Farha's father hides her in a pantry basement, where she spends half the film. Meanwhile outside, she sees the horrors of ethnic cleansing.
I wanna talk a bit about some of the powerful symbolism in the movie, which (along with the subject matter) makes this film so profound.
The fact that Farha spent more than half the film locked up is a powerful visual metaphor for the plight of Palestinians, even still today. She had no freedom, even though she was still in her own home.
While locked up, she saw a family stop at the font outside her house, to get water, as the woman was in labor. They delivered the baby on the sidewalk, and quickly went to hide. Soon after, soldiers came through the village, to force any remaining residents out of their homes to flee.
These soldiers are accompanied by a hooded and disguised collaborator.
The soldiers find the family hiding with their new baby. The collaborator assures them they are not from the village, that they are just passing through. They are lined up against a wall and shot. except for the baby. The soldier is told "not to waste a bullet" on the baby. So the child is left, unattended, out in the open, to scream for hours.
This crying baby eventually drives Farha to the brink, and she starts trying to break out of her captivity. She fails. The baby perishes.
Later on, the finds a concealed pistol, and uses the gun to shoot the door open.
Think about the symbolism here.
Once out, she sees she is too late to save the baby. Sad and angry about the bodies all around her, she walks off to her new life as a refugee.
Her home, and her entire future was taken away from her (and her people) though they did nothing wrong.
Among other things, the film Farha is a powerful depiction of the brutal reality of ethnic cleansing. Whatever one may think about the creation of the State of Israel and its right to exist, the country was built on blood and atrocity. This film gives a meagre glimpse of what that must have been like.
The Israeli government is pressuring Netflix to drop the film. They insist it does not portray truthful events. It is based on a true story, and frankly, the implication that Israel *could have been*, or might have been created, without forced expulsions, is simply not accurate.
But, since similar abuses happen to this day in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Israeli government does not want a human face to be put on the Palestinians. They would prefer the world forgot these people, whose only crime is to wish to live in the land where they have been for centuries.
That's one reason this film is so important. Ethnic cleansing is NEVER okay, no matter the group being expelled, nor the group forcing them out.
Peace in that region seems like a fantasy, but sooner or later, all sides must live in peace. It could not come soon enough.
Its probably the most profound film I've ever seen. It tells the story of a teenage Palestinian girl in 1948, who was living in what is now Israel.
At the beginning of the film, she's just a normal girl, hoping her Dad doesn't marry her off before she gets a chance to go to college. Then, on an average day, like any other, all of a sudden there is the sound of explosions and gunfire.
Soldiers come to the village, to force everyone out of their homes. Farha's father hides her in a pantry basement, where she spends half the film. Meanwhile outside, she sees the horrors of ethnic cleansing.
I wanna talk a bit about some of the powerful symbolism in the movie, which (along with the subject matter) makes this film so profound.
The fact that Farha spent more than half the film locked up is a powerful visual metaphor for the plight of Palestinians, even still today. She had no freedom, even though she was still in her own home.
While locked up, she saw a family stop at the font outside her house, to get water, as the woman was in labor. They delivered the baby on the sidewalk, and quickly went to hide. Soon after, soldiers came through the village, to force any remaining residents out of their homes to flee.
These soldiers are accompanied by a hooded and disguised collaborator.
The soldiers find the family hiding with their new baby. The collaborator assures them they are not from the village, that they are just passing through. They are lined up against a wall and shot. except for the baby. The soldier is told "not to waste a bullet" on the baby. So the child is left, unattended, out in the open, to scream for hours.
This crying baby eventually drives Farha to the brink, and she starts trying to break out of her captivity. She fails. The baby perishes.
Later on, the finds a concealed pistol, and uses the gun to shoot the door open.
Think about the symbolism here.
Once out, she sees she is too late to save the baby. Sad and angry about the bodies all around her, she walks off to her new life as a refugee.
Her home, and her entire future was taken away from her (and her people) though they did nothing wrong.
Among other things, the film Farha is a powerful depiction of the brutal reality of ethnic cleansing. Whatever one may think about the creation of the State of Israel and its right to exist, the country was built on blood and atrocity. This film gives a meagre glimpse of what that must have been like.
The Israeli government is pressuring Netflix to drop the film. They insist it does not portray truthful events. It is based on a true story, and frankly, the implication that Israel *could have been*, or might have been created, without forced expulsions, is simply not accurate.
But, since similar abuses happen to this day in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Israeli government does not want a human face to be put on the Palestinians. They would prefer the world forgot these people, whose only crime is to wish to live in the land where they have been for centuries.
That's one reason this film is so important. Ethnic cleansing is NEVER okay, no matter the group being expelled, nor the group forcing them out.
Peace in that region seems like a fantasy, but sooner or later, all sides must live in peace. It could not come soon enough.