PicoBlog

Last night I saw another Palestinian movie called “The Tale of Three Jewels.” The movie was released in 1996 and is the first full length feature film to be completely shot in the Gaza strip.

A week ago, my partner and I were talking about the kinds of images that we’ve all been viewing over the past two months coming from Palestine—horrific images that seem to do little to move the West because of how much they devalue Palestinian lives. Watching films from Palestine, where the filmmakers have rendered their subjects with such depth and love and kindness, has been such a balm for me in the last few weeks, and a powerful anchor to keep myself from thinking about the nuanced reality of Gaza and the West Bank and the Palestinian people.

“The Tale of Three Jewels” is an incredible film, about a young boy, Yussef, who falls in love for the first time set against the backdrop of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the Gaza strip. Yussef is growing up with his mom and his sister in a refugee camp in Gaza, his brother is on the run in the resistance movement while his father has been held, and tortured, in prison through most of Yussef’s life.

The film is beautiful magical realist, and delves into dreams, signs, and a young boys hope to win love by embarking on an impossible quest. The characters are nuanced and real, painted with such beautiful love and tenderness that makes you fall in love with them. And even despite the situation, there’s such beautiful humor that carries the film, humor that keeps resistance alive and palapable.

A small moment of this is when Yussef’s sister is looking at herself in the mirror without her hijab and playfully remarking how she looks prettier this way—the entire audience burst out laughing. It was a relief to see someone contemplate something that seemed as trivial, but as meaningful, as vanity in such a precarious situation. Two scenes later she gives her mother her gold hoop earrings to sell because they are in financial trouble and she remarks that they’re just a vanity, rotting at her ears when they could be of use to the family.

When I was in Hebron (which is actually the Israeli name for it—the Palestinian name is al-Khaleel, meaning ‘the city of the beloved’) staying with a host family, I went to the store with the men in my host family and one of my friends. When we got to the store my friend wanted to buy a pack of cigarettes, and he asked for cigarettes that were Palestinian made, not Israeli made. When he got out he tried to smoke them and they were so rough, they were hard for him to smoke. The men from my host family remarked that he was really hardcore for observing the boycott when it came to cigarettes, they didn’t even smoke Palestinian cigarettes. All of us burst out laughing and laughed for a ridiculously long time. After, one of my host family members said, “when you talk about us, don’t forget to tell them that we laugh here too.”

What I particularly love about the movie is how embedded it is with Kid Logic--- lol the logic that exists in children that is so magical, that presents magical out of the ordinary and turns the simplest task into a fantastic quest. There’s such a preciousness that abounds in watching it, which also makes the backdrop of the occupation all the most harrowing.

Who gets to be a kid? Who gets innocence? Who gets access to the fullness of their youth?

In one scene, Yusef’s best friend is treating Yusef to a shwarma. Yussef hasn’t eaten meat in a long time, and it’s clear his best friend, who is wealthy, is trying to help him. As they are about to bite into the food, Israeli forces open fire on teenage boys in the street. Yussef and his friend lose their Shwarma and remark that they’ve both been so scared that they went to the bathroom in their pants. These boys are so young and tender, and are witnessing such violence that’s unspeakable.

When Yussef meets Aida, the girl that he falls in love with, she’s manipulating stories of Jinn to scare the little kids around her to do what she wants. It’s such a hilarious and VERY relatable moment, where because of her older-ness and perceived wisdom, everyone listens to her.  One of the girl remarks that Jinn must eat meat and so are strong, and that they (the kids and their families) don’t even have access to meat, so they are weak. Aida picks up a plant in a very fierce but tender way, she explains that plants have a life force energy of their own and can never be killed. Even in her eating the plant, the plant’s life force intermixes with her own, and their life forces join. That’s strength.

After this, Yussef is smitten, in over his head, in love with Aida. And who could blame him??

Throughout the movie we see that many people try and get Yussef to eat meat, but he refuses because he knows that its coming from a place of pity, and not from a place of strength. The arc of the movie is Yussef embodying his own strength, even if those around him don’t understand it.

The film is such a beautiful portraiture of the nuances of Gaza: you see the differences between class among Palestinian people in Gaza, the prejudices that they hold towards each other (ie, Yussef’s family is weary of Aida’s family because her family is Palestinian-Roma, and they think she’s from a ‘bad’ family), and ultimately the way that they all survive under occupation. You also hear small lines or moments that really show how stark the situation is, like Yussef’s mom talking about how she used to love going to the beach, but since 1967 when Israel occupied Gaza they set a curfew that prohibits any Gazan’s from going to the beach at night. She laments about a ten-year curfew that they have been under. And Yussef expressed the feeling that he doesn’t actually know his dad, that he's a stranger because he’s been imprisoned for ten years. These moments show you insights about what is going on and coloring everyone’s interactions and beings, while our characters live their lives.

Also, Arab Film & Media group are showing the film online for the rest on the month! They also have a section of their website that’s on Palestinian voices, where they are showing a bunch of Palestinian movies online this month and I can’t wait to check more of them out.

In a small moment of personal victory—I just moved to New York a month ago and I’m still so early in building my community. I invited a new friend to see the movie with me and I’m proud of myself for doing that!  A small part of my prayer of ushering in deep friendships, collaborators and community in this next chapter of my life!  

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