Recently, the El Gouna Film Festival, in its sixth session, screened the Palestinian film “The Professor” by director Farah Nabulsi after it won the Special Jury Prize at the Red Sea International Film Festival in its third session. It stars Sabeh Lakri, Mohamed Abdel Rahman, Nabil Al-Rai, Mahmoud Bakri, and actress British Imogen Poots, Andrea Irvine, Paul Herzberg, Stanley Townsend.
“The Professor” begins with a text informing viewers that the film was “inspired by true events.” Most obviously, this refers to the case of Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier who was imprisoned by Palestinian militants and released in 2011 in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners during the film. But more broadly, it speaks to the film’s commitment to depicting the struggles of living in Palestine in a time of perpetual conflict where violence and displacement are a constantly looming threat and justice seems constantly out of reach.
Although Shalit’s capture and release inspired the backbone of Farah Nabulsi’s debut feature, his counterpart in the film, Nathaniel Cohen, is more of a plot device than what he sees at a glance, and instead our hero is the entirely fictional Bassem, a man. A Palestinian teaches English at a small boys’ school.
At his job he is strict, but kindly, a man deeply angry about his country’s occupation, and the film slowly reveals his ties to the Palestinian political resistance group that held Cohen captive for three years, and which eventually accused him of keeping the prisoner in his home.
In brief flashbacks, Bassem had a son and a wife, but when the film begins he currently lives alone in the same small village with Yacoub and his meek brother Adam (Mohamed Abdel Rahman). Yacoub and Adam’s father died several years ago, and the two often act as surrogate children for Bassem while he carries out his fatherly duties. towards them, and rallies to support them when their house is suddenly demolished by Israeli settlers. He stresses patience toward the reckless Yacoub, who has a looming criminal record—warnings that prove tragically justified when Yacoub encounters settlers burning the town’s olive trees, only to be shot in the process. From that inciting incident, “The Professor” promises an emotionally devastating revenge story!
Nabulsi, who was born and raised in London to Palestinian parents, is clearly passionate about using her work to draw attention to the way Israeli violence towards Palestine affects the daily lives of civilians. But good intentions don’t always translate into strong storytelling, and in “The Professor” — which often resembles an extended short rather than a feature — good intentions are pretty much all that’s on screen.
The film’s central dynamic is between Basim and Adam, who is left devastated by Jacob’s death and embittered as it becomes increasingly clear that his killers are unlikely to receive significant punishment. When Israeli forces searching for Cohen begin searching their neighborhood, Adam discovers Bassem’s double life and forcefully thrusts himself into it, hoping to find some sense of justice and purpose. Bassem, who clearly sees his son in the angry Adam, does everything he can to keep him in line, pushing and pulling. The two drive the majority of the film’s conflict, but the chemistry is off. There is no real sense of shared history between the men, and little real friction or tension results from their arguments.
Bakri, the talented actor does what he can with the material, but newcomer Rahman struggles to add a dimension that simply doesn’t exist in the film’s script.
Adam moves into Bassem’s house, and the resulting domestic activities that bring the two closer together are covered in a hasty, rushed montage that pushes their bond beyond the audience’s reach. Other relationships are of interest to many of us, such as Bassem’s romance with Lisa (Imogen Poots). Lisa, a social worker from Britain tasked with Jacob’s care, feels like a largely vestigial character from the jump, an unnecessary audience surrogate with limited personal investment in the life-or-death struggle that ensnares Basim and Adam. But the film insists on throwing them together in scenes with Bassem, as he helps her survive life in the West Bank and takes her on romantic car trips to sample local cuisine. As great as Bakri and Potts are on screen, together they have the chemistry of two co-workers talking face-to-face for the first time at a business dinner.
While we spend so much time in the film with the romantic subplot, The Professor gives short shrift to dynamics that are more essential to the story, such as Bassem’s backstory being presented in a few short, perfunctory flashbacks. Also involved in the work are Cohen’s parents, Simon (Stanleytownsend) and Rachel (Andrea Irvine). American Jews who disapprove of their son running away to join the Israeli army (an invention of the film; the real Shalit was born and raised in Israel), the two express discomfort and ambivalence about the actions of the Israeli government, although they still partner with them to find their son.
In a climate where Palestinian views on the conflict are given limited exposure, it’s hard not to root for a film like The Professor that provides a necessary balance. But the film struggles to translate its lofty goals into compelling drama, with any audience investment being merely a byproduct of the inherently high stakes.
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