I have been looking for this for so long, but it was so worth it. Did not disappoint, on the contrary, it delivered in spades. So many cultural aspects that I was not aware of. Ethnical Palestinians living in Israel and the struggles they face. It's a great family drama and it delivers abundantly on that front, but it's also very political, and politics is the bone of contention between Shadi and his father. It's easy to be political and uncompromising when you're living far away. The confrontation between them at the end is so poignant and effective in delivering this. His dad had to live and keep them alive, he couldn't afford grand ideas of the motherland. That is for the Palestinian diaspora. At some point he was speaking about West-Bankers as others. And he probably perceives them as very removed from his life in Nazareth. There's also mention of Daesh and that gave me the shivers.
What also shocked me was that the Palestinian women living here are very liberated compared to those in Arab-speaking countries. They wear normal clothes, even tight and revealing ones, are sexual beings and have professions. The only downside is if you're known to have lived with a man, unmarried. Then you are out of the marriage market for good.
Living in Italy, it makes perfect sense to me that Shadi would be wearing red trousers and a pink shirt. Of course he does.
The great thing about this movie is that you come to sympathize with every character, despite their differing opinions. Even the absent mother.
