Al-hadiya

Greetings again from the darkness. It may look like the crowd filing out of a sports arena after a big match, but in fact, it's actual footage of an Israeli checkpoint in Palestine along the West Bank. Another big difference ... heavily armed soldiers and cages to detain those while identification is checked.

This is the life writer-director Farah Nabulsi shows us in her 23 minute gem of a short film. She focuses on Yusef (an excellent Saleh Bakri), a man struggling to make ends meet for his wife and young daughter. Today is his wedding anniversary and he agrees to take daughter Yasmine (Miriam Kanj) along on a shopping trip. She witnesses her dad battle severe back pain, as well as the frustrations in dealing with the armed guards at the checkpoint - even as he endures the humiliation of being caged in front of her.

Yusef is a good man and strives to protect his daughter and shield her from the tension and danger - often through humor or a warm embrace. Something as simple as replacing a fridge on the fritz is part of the daily struggle for folks like Yusef. Sometimes it takes the courage and reasonableness of a youngster to highlight the irrational rules that have taken over the world. The film has a grounded, realistic feel, and delivers a sobering message.

The Present is a heartbreaking film that illustrates the reality of the israeli occupation in Palestine. In this short film, the director was able to brilliantly capture the essence of the inhumane israeli occupation of Palestinians by demonstrating its unjust treatment of Palestinian citizens and showcasing the checkpoints, segregated roads, constant interrogation and continuous armed inspection that Palestinians must go through every single day when performing tasks as simple as going shopping in their town. The film also sheds light on the physical and mental repercussions of this occupation on the men, women and especially children who suffer because of it.

This film was so moving. The part I loved the most was how human the situation was. As you watch it, you feel the frustration of what its like to go through the day with that kind of adversity. When that adversity looks like abuse of power its especially difficult to digest. The young lady is so pure and a delightful soul. The thing that left me was that it only shows the story from the lens of "in the day of". It leaves you with the question, that what would be the consequence of making independent decisions. That anxiety hits you hard especially if you have experienced oppressive situations like this before. For many that have empathy or a history of systems like this, this movie definitely leaves a mark.

Most of the series that talks about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are biased to Israel, but this film shows a part of the humiliation and suffering Palestinian face every day at Israeli checkpoints. Looking forward more like this in the future.

The Present is a Palestinian short film that takes a very simple scenario of a man living in the West Bank who sets out with his daughter to buy his wife an anniversary gift, against the many checkpoints and surveillances that come with being a Palestinian.

The success of this movie is that it doesn't try to showcase the horrors of the occupation, rather a more relatable scenario that can be empathized with universally, using that to share what it's like to be on the receiving end of the occupation. It's a movie that I feel everyone should watch, and is one I would wholeheartedly recommend.