film review: Once Upon A Time in Gaza

 

Directed by Tarzan and Arab Nasser

ChinoKino rating: A- 

Review by Allan Tong 

  

    The Toronto Palestine Film Festival opened last night with the strong Cannes-winning Once Upon A Time in Gaza. It's an artfully done genre picture about two small-time drug dealers and a corrupt cop, and takes place in two sections covering 2007 and 2009.

    We follow Osama (charismatic Majd Eid, above in purple) and partner Yahya (Nader Arb Alhay, above right) who run a falafel joint in Gaza. Really, they deal in stolen pharmaceuticals that they hide in their sandwiches. They're small-time crooks who take bong hits and dream of better days under occupation. Both Hamas and Israel are tightening their grip around Gaza. Yahya can't visit his family in the West Bank an hour away because the Israeli authorities won't let him. He's never left Gaza and is literally stuck there. Meanwhile, Osama battles a corrupt cop (Ramzi Maqdisi has presence) who demands a cut of Osama's business. Osama is fearless, perhaps reckless.

 

    Without giving away spoilers, the film jumps ahead two years. The switch is jarring, like the break in Hitchcock's Psycho or Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express. "So, where is this going?" I asked myself. Be patient, however, and you will see how the two acts connect. Let's just say that one day an enthusiastic director (Isaaq Elias) spots Yahya in a restaurant and wants to cast him as the hero in a cheesy action series, The Rebel. The government-backed TV program will showcase a heroic militant who died a martyr. Yahya hasn't acted a second in his life, but he looks perfect.

    The satire continues as we see them film. The budget is so low that they use real bullets on set. Real Hamas militants mingle with fake ones, while Palestinians double as IDF soldiers. Everything is shot on the twisting streets of Gaza (in reality, Jordan for this film) as families look on. With such small circles overlapping, Yahya inevitably runs into the corrupt cop. Their paths collide in a surprise ending. At the end, I asked, What is martyrdom?

    Does the story hold together? Yeah, surprisingly. Credit the Nasser Brothers for keeping the satire deadpanned so that the story's twists and turns are convincing. Their gritty approach keeps the movie grounded. Sets are relentlessly dark and claustrophobic. The viewer feels trapped like its anti-heroes. Life is absurd and painful in Gaza.

     The Nasser Brothers began writing the film in 2015. Apart from quoting Trump's idiotic speech of building a riviera heard over the opening titles, Once Upon A Time in Gaza does not address what is happening now. (It's set in Gaza, because it's the brothers' hometown.) However, politics are inescapable in any film about Gaza. TV reports are sprinkled throughout the film, like a Greek chorus, about Israel building a wall and Hamas defiantly standing tall. That said, this is not a jingoistic picture. Politics is part of everyday life.

    The Nasser Brothers captured the best director award at Cannes' Un Certain Regard last May. Each scene is skillfully executed. Performances are tight, particularly by Majd Eid who commands the screen. There are nods to filmmakers, such as Coppola. The writing and photography are tight.

    Once Upon A Time in Gaza is the right choice to open (sold out) the Palestine Film Festival, which runs through October 3 at the TIFF Lightbox. Also programmed are art receptions, book signings, and a concert by the group Dam at Lee's Palace (sold out). Tickets and passes are available at TPFF.

film review: Russians at War

 

Directed by Anastasia Trofimova

Written by  Anastasia Trofimova & Roland Schlimme

ChinoKino review: A

Reviewed by Allan Tong

 

First of all, Russians at War is an anti-war documentary, not propaganda.  

For 129 minutes, this film depicts a squad of Russian front line soldiers and medics who are demoralized by their country's war against Ukraine. The soldiers, ranging from their early-twenties into their fifties, see no point to the fighting, are given few or no orders when entering battle, drink constantly, and distrust Russian state media and their leaders. Some just want to collect a paycheque. Others want to go home. 

Malaise overhangs the film. One soldier complains that he and his comrades are being sent into battle with no information like "blind kittens." Another points to the old U.S.S.R. hammer-and-sickle insignia in his tank. (This means the tank was manufactured over 33 years ago.) Yet another points to a Russian newspaper and TV broadcast and urges the camera not to believe either. A 50-year-old soldier risks prison by leaving the front line to see his wife and children in Moscow. A widow stands over the grave of her loved one and openly questions the war.

 

In one scene, Russian soldiers are packed into a truck heading somewhere into battle, and a few are chugging from an open bottle. It recalls news footage from 1968 when U.S. soldiers smoked pot as they combed the jungles of Vietnam. Both groups of soldiers didn't know what they were fighting for. The difference is that U.S. networks broadcast their soldiers' sentiments every night which soured American opinion and helped end that unjust war. The Russian war lacks this uncensored footage. Russians at War offers a rare glimpse of the Russian front lines as they are, which makes this film essential viewing.

These are the facts: Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and continues to ravage that country in an unjust war. Secondly, the word "war" is uttered many times in this film, which is a punishable offence  in Putin's Russia. For this reason alone, there's no way Russians at War can screen in the country where its subjects live. To call this documentary propaganda is to be deaf and blind.

Director Anastasia Trofimova was reporting for the CBC when Russian invaded Ukraine. Benefiting from the chaos at the front and the endemic confusion that paralyzes the Russian army, she embedded herself with a squad. During her Q&A after the second screening at the TIFF Lightbox last Tuesday, Trofimova explained that she hid in the woods whenever commanding officers inspected, and when she was caught they chewed her out. She never obtained official press credentials in her seven months of shooting and, as the footage shows, risked her life to capture it.

The documentary is shown largely in a fly-on-the-wall, verite style. The director inserts a voice-over here and there purely to add context. At times, she questions a soldier. She asks one whether he believes Russian soldiers are committing atrocities. He denies it. This same young soldier is gung-ho about killing Nazis in Ukraine. It's clear to the audience that he has swallowed Vladimir Putin's brainwashing. Another soldier turns militant after seeing footage of a wounded comrade begging for a drone not to kill him, but it shoots him anyway. Does this scene engender sympathy for the dead Russian soldier? Yes. Does either scene compel me to cheer Russia and vilify Ukraine? No.

"Hundreds of instances over verbal abuse" including threats of violence and sexual abuse against TIFF staff forced the festival to postpone screenings. Those were originally scheduled to take place at a 14-screen multiplex at the height of the fest, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey explained at a somber introduction before the Tuesday screenings. These took place at the TIFF Lightbox, a building far easier to secure. Indeed, there were many police and security guards on hand, stretching from the sidewalk on King Street where an angry protest raged, to the stage of cinema 2. In an unprecedented move, Russians at War was shown as the last screening of the venerable festival, two days after it ended.

How did we we come to this?

film review: Military Wives

Directed by Peter Cattaneo

Written by Rosanne Flynn & Rachel Tunnard

ChinoKino score: C

Review by Allan Tong

Military Wives has all the ingredients to add up to a rousing feel-good comedy. A group of disparate British women are united by a cause (their partners are soldiers fighting in Afghanistan); they band together to perform (a choir) so they're on a musical journey; the film's director made the smash hit, The Full Monty; the great Kristin Scott-Thomas is the lead; and there's lots of singing. Audiences should be cheering these ladies as they endure bad news from the war front and find solace in each other. We should be swept away by their voices and stories as they struggle to literally find their voices.

Sadly, we don't. The film is a by-the-numbers affair that  rarely raises a laugh or smile and doesn't emotionally draw us into the lives of these women. Rather, the film feels cold and distant. I never felt like the wives become pals. They lack camaraderi.e True, they share their sorrows over bad news and there are moments of genuine friendship, but it's not enough to ignite this film.