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CairoScene
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Cannes in Review: ‘Once Upon a Time in Gaza'
Cannes in Review: 'Once Upon a Time in Gaza' Arab and Tarzan Nasser first drew international acclaim at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival with 'Gaza Mon Amour'. Twelve years later, the visionary Palestinian brothers return with 'Once Upon a Time in Gaza'. Set in 2007, against the backdrop of a blockaded city, the dramedy tells the story of a student who strikes up an unlikely alliance with a small-time Lyrica dealer. Before they know it, they both get caught in the crosshairs of a corrupt police officer. Selected for the Un Certain Regard section, the film is a low-key crime caper that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's laced with humor and grounded in the everyday hustle of survival. Unlike many depictions of Gaza, the Israeli occupation here simmers in the background rather than taking center stage. Instead, the focus is on the resourcefulness, wit, and resilience of those making the most of life within a place that offers them so little. It shows that even under siege, people find ways to outsmart the systems that try to contain them. The story begins with Ossama faking an illness to obtain a prescription for Lyrica. While the doctor briefly steps out, Ossama seizes the moment. He steals the prescription pad and stamps it with the clinic's official seal. He then teams up with Yahya, a former student, and together they drive around the city, hitting pharmacy after pharmacy to stock up on Lyrica sheets. When Ossama attempts to sell the pills, he crosses paths with Abou Sami, a corrupt police officer. Sami pressures Ossama to turn informant and name his associates involved in the drug scheme. Ossama refuses. This sets off a violent confrontation. To reveal anything more would spoil the experience. The film thrives on its unpredictable energy, constantly wrong-footing the audience just when they think they've figured it out. What starts as a low-stakes hustle quickly spirals into something far more chaotic. I was all in for the ride. It's that element of surprise, those sharp tonal shifts, that give the film its charm. Part of the thrill is never quite knowing what it might throw at you next. There's a film-within-a-film element that I found absolutely hilarious. It involves the making of The Rebel, which is meant to be Gaza's first-ever action movie. It's based on the life of a martyred resistance fighter. But the budget is so low, the characters end up using real bullets on set. As they shoot, both literally and figuratively, the looming threat of an Israeli drone mistaking the production for militant activity hangs over them like a dark cloud. It's brilliantly absurd. In one scene, a character mentions the idea of resistance through images. That line reverberates beyond the screen. It speaks directly to the film's deeper purpose. On a meta level, that's exactly what the Nassers are doing. They are using cinema itself as a creative act of defiance. Their characters are hustlers, dreamers, schemers, and storytellers navigating the tightrope of everyday life in an occupied land. The end result is a wildly entertaining, politically charged, and darkly comic gem. With Once Upon a Time in Gaza, the Nasser brothers pull off something so rare. They created a film that is both unflinching and unexpectedly uplifting. It demands to be seen.
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Gaza Mon Amour: Palestinian love story finds romance in the rubble
Issa (The Crown's Salim Daw) is a 60-year-old bachelor. Every night, he takes his fishing boat out to sea and brings his paltry catch to the market the next day. At the same market, his heart is captured by Siham (Succession's Hiam Abbass), a middle-aged widow who works alongside her divorced daughter Leila (Maisa Abd Elhadi) as seamstresses for a struggling clothing store. As Issa tries to muster up the courage to propose to Siham, he finds in his fishing net a nearly lifesize antique statue of Apollo, the Greek god of light – equipped with a fully erect penis. Its title echoes Alain Resnais's 1959 classic Hiroshima, Mon Amour, which follows a pair of lovers across a bomb-devastated city. But Gaza Mon Amour does not indulge itself in melancholic discussions about the traumas of war. Instead, the film is a gentle reminder that love is a flower that can bloom for anyone, at any age and in any place. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning With surly visuals underlined by a plainspoken cinematography and a muted colour palette, Gaza Mon Amour traces the streets and the houses its characters frequent. The sidewalks filled with rubble, the rooms draped in darkness due to daily power cuts all seem to suggest pain and suffering. And yet the characters radiate with enchanting romance and absurdist comedy; their dialogue brims with bickering and banter about old laundry and going to the loo in one's dreams. Daw lends Issa a childlike bashfulness – like a teen experiencing their first crush. The old fisherman dances in his kitchen after striking up his first conversation with Siham. 'I've decided to get married,' he confides in his younger sister Manal (Manal Awad), who is complaining about his ripped undergarments. Aside from his sincerity and vulnerability, Issa is also devilishly charming. As authorities question him about the phallic statue, Issa's impish rebuttals puncture what would otherwise be a terrifying encounter. Meanwhile, Abbass is luminous as the resolute Siham. In her eyes, we see hope, joy, resentment and guilt. Behind her stoicism is a veil of melancholy nobody can see through, except perhaps her daughter Leila – who is dismissive. As Siham stares longingly at the portrait of her late husband, her daughter struggles to keep her dream of university education ablaze. Dreams permeate every gloomy frame of the film. Political turmoils are only alluded to obliquely in Gaza Mon Amour – and perhaps most poignantly through the characters' unrealised ambitions. 'When will this shitty life be over?' utters Samir (George Iskandar), Issa's friend, as he fantasises of escaping to Europe with his family. Issa, too, reminisces about how 'clean and wide' the sea was as he remembers his first love, who often skipped school to walk on the beach. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Despite his pragmatism, Issa still secretly dreams of a sea that stretches further than 10km from shore, a sea where he does not need a permit to roam, a sea where he can take the woman he loves without fearing gunfire from Israeli naval patrols. The film grants him a love story after all, daring to depict a Gaza where the sound of bombardments can be drowned out by the pitter-patter on an umbrella shielding two wistful lovers from the rain. Gaza Mon Amour is streaming in Australia on SBS On Demand and available to rent in the US. For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here
