finallly watched salt of this sea which i have been eagerly awaiting. i have been keenly following suheir hammad’s work for many years now.
for those that know suheir or her work, the film is almost exactly what you would expect from her. an earnest, righteous attempt to highlight the palestinians’ place or lack thereof in the post 48 world.
suheir puts in a fine performance for her celluloid debut (biased opinion naturally). if she chooses to take the acting further i think she has potential. she did at times come across as the spoken word artist that she really is. nevertheless, promising first role. saleh bakri, her co star put in another fine understated performance and like suheir has the looks and film presence required for screen stars.
annemarie jacir directs the film ably. the camera work often naturalistic in a nice loose, intimate way captures a sense of life in palestine and israel (indeed the film rekindled my longstanding dream to visit tel aviv sometime).
the script though lets the film down. it tells a completey one-sided, simplistic and flat story that didn’t explore any of the complexities inherent in the relationships and storylines on screen. the love story was unconvincing. the confrontation scene in suheir grandfather’s jaffa house was an especially egregiously wasted opportunity to dig deeper into the personal and political differences but one that characterises the whole film.