| Palestine, 2021 | Comedy | Author Work | Trailer (sort of) |
The epithet that this movie adds to a toponym with otherwise tragic connotations such as Gaza already reveals a big chunk of the spirit of this movie. Naturally, it follows the trail of other renowed movies that establish the budding of an endearment between two individuals in the framework of a worldly famous city -that happens to be the true protagonist-, such as in Paris Je t’aime or Lost in Translation. However, it achieves much more on a conceptual level, precisely on two different planes. Let’s see.
First of all, it never ceases to remind the audience that the premise is comedic. With a kind of very dry humour that works really well with the setting of Gaza Mon Amour, it alleviates dramatic tensions with an absurd premise and the insertion of chill and awkward moments and one-liners. The main character is a 60 year old fisherman from the Gaza strip, who lives an, under his view, complete and plentiful life free of all kind stress. However, one day after fishing a blatantly erotic Greek statue from the sea bottom by accident, his stable life turns upside down with disfortuned but hilarious events constantly happening, so he, in a fuck this shit, I’m all in attitude, decides to confess his love to the woman that steals his heart every day when going to the market.
The main achievement of this fine movie is reminding us how surprising, beautiful and even magical life can be, even in the most unlikely contextes. Contrary to the aforementioned movie examples, where the budding love is highlighted by powerful sensations in otherwise elegant and glamourous cities, Gaza Mon Amour pulls its charms from the raw humanity and universal feelings and thoughts every single person in this world can have. Its awkward comedic tone highlights the blunt, even timid sensations that the characters express all the time, and delivers charm to an otherwise pitiful situation, as you can see in the trailer I linked in the header.
Aside of that, it also helps to produce a topic treatment I have seen in other recent movies of the Arabic world. None of the hot topics we all associate to Palestine, Gaza or any other similar big word is directly discussed, but colaterally shown. We see the characters live their everyday life, and all the things we usually associate to the news and headlines are just hinted at the background, as if the Gaza citizens didn’t pay attention to them, and even label them as stupid or pointless happenings. They are so accustomed to these that they aren’t even important to them anymore. The movie does not criticise or take a part on this political level. It just shows, casually and nonchalantly, how reality there is, and how people react to it.
These two film aspects, first and secondary, mesh marvelously and elevate the charm of this movie to amazing levels. The portrayal is full of dignity and honesty: you could even think the actors take doing a good job on a personal level here. Everything here works in sintony to deliver an unforgettable and touching experience.
Thus, such a modest and heated site as the Gaza strip is dignified in our eyes as a central locus of the world, not inferior to the big cities of earth, and its inhabitants as the most important ones we can all identify with, soul to soul. At least, for two hours of our life.