Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Annemarie Jacir
Starring: Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Tarik Kopty, Monera
Shehadeh
Through the touchstone framework of a father and son relationship,
Wajib, writer/director Annemarie Jacir’s arthouse road trip, gently
probes the compromises and privations that constitute everyday life in
contemporary Nazareth. In this authentic drama, the hard-earned life
experience of Abu (Mohammad Bakri) is neatly contrasted by the
youthful optimism of his grown-up son, Shadi (Saleh Bakri), as they
traverse the urban maze of what is the ‘Arab capital of Israel’, a Middle
East township composed of a highly diverse citizenship: as well as being the
Israeli city with the highest Arab population, within this demographic are
further variegations, with 69% being Muslim and 31% Christian. Filmed within
the city limits, Wajib gives the immediate impression of a
municipality given to fracture. Along with the understated dramatic nods of
street fights and disheartening radio bulletins concerning Israeli
embargoes, the town is depicted ‘as is’, which means tight streets crammed
with cars and people, bins ubiquitously overflowing, and the constant
frustration of blared horns and raised voices.
This verisimilitude is further enhanced by the real-life relationship
between the central actors, who are both superb, and whose natural chemistry
vitally enriches the impact of this subtle and convincing drama. The title,
which roughly translates to ‘duty’, ostensibly relates to Abu and Shadi’s
central task, which is to hand deliver the wedding invites of their
daughter/sister to various guests across Nazareth. The cultural importance
of this endeavour is underlined when it is revealed that Shadi, who
relocated to Italy some time ago, has returned home to complete the run with
his father. Shadi displays all the accruements of Western living with his
flash shirt, red trousers and (very fetching) man-bun. He misses his
European girlfriend, much to the chagrin of his father, who makes a few
initial intimations about wedding within the more immediate culture.
Initially the regretful jokes concerning the obsoleting of cousins marrying
seem like the grumbles of an old-school Muslim, but as the journey
progresses, and the film gradually peels back the layers of this fraught
relationship, it transpires that Shadi’s prospective father-in-law is a high
ranking official in the PLO: a revelation that vies for dramatic space among
other disclosures, such as the flight of Abu’s wife, his compromised
relationship with an influential Jewish councillor and the real reasons for
Shadi leaving the homeland.
Within this fragmented environment, it is no surprise that family and
friends are held dear: in such shifting tides, blood is thicker than the
polluted waters of the city. And thus, as the pair visit the different
denizens of Nazareth, personal responses and experiences regarding life in
the Middle East are presented. What is impressive about
Wajib is the subtlety of the storytelling: a less confident
film-maker may have overstated Wajib’s narrative and given in to histrionics. Instead, the drama here is
cautiously realised, soberly related, and recognisably familial even to
those not living in such a transitional landscape.
However, this fealty to nuance means that most of the family members that
the Shadis visit are necessarily nice and gracious, and interpersonal
conflict generally consists of Shadi and Abu having unwanted provender
forced upon them (although there is a tense scene where it is discovered
that the invites have a misprint - calamity!). At times, this can make for a
rather slow viewing experience. Within Wajib’s echt realisation of Nazareth, an ostensibly calm city, which is built
upon compromise and kept in check by the threat of violence (we pointedly
see soldiers milling around in the background, machine guns slung casually
over their shoulders), we undergo a road trip that seemingly doesn’t travel
very far, with a conclusion based more on bittersweet resignation that
revelatory destination.
Wajib is on MUBI UK now.