364. Wajib; movie review

WAJIB
Cert 15
97 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language

In school, we all learned about Nazareth as being the city in which Jesus grew up and, consequently, conjured our own picture of how it would have appeared.
I had an image of low-level white buildings with balconies on roofs which looked out over olive groves.
The city to which Shadi (Saleh Bakri) returns to celebrate the wedding of his sister (Maria Zreik) is a violent, rubbish-strewn place which is mainly the home to Arabs but remains in Israel.
The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is never far from the thoughts of Shadi and his father (Saleh's real-life dad Mohammad).
In Annemarie Jacir's film, Shadi spends a day fulfilling the traditional role of Wajib - accompanying his father in delivering wedding invitations to family, friends and acquaintances.
Along the way there are laughs and memories but also heavy political discussions, prompted by Shadi's support for the militant Palestinians against his father's need for expediency because he chooses to continue living in his home city.

While the two leads have the inevitable love and loathing of father and son, their portrayal would not be as poignant without such a beautifully observed script.
It is particularly clever to have set the film at Christmastime because it hammers home how different Nazareth is to the story of Jesus.
Indeed, the short shrift for religion is one of the common grounds for dad and son.
The pair lead very different lives and they clash about tradition as well as politics, giving the viewer a rare cinematic window on the Palestinian life outside of Gaza and the West Bank.
I have visited Israel and understand the cheek-by-jowl nature of distrust but the political state of Nazareth had escaped me.
Jacir's movie challenges pre-conceptions all the way from the holy city to a modern-day wedding.
It made me smile but is also made me think.

Reason to watch: A very different and humorous take on life among the Arab community in Israel
Reasons to avoid: It presumes knowledge of the political backdrop

Laughs: Chuckles rather than laughs
Jumps: None:
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8/10

Director quote - Annemarie Jacir: "Nazareth is a violent, tense city. At the same time, you have this great humour. In a way, that's how people survive. You find that in a lot of minorities in the world. Humour is a survival mechanism."

The big question - Did anyone imagine Nazareth to be like this when they studied about it at school?

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