By choosing to make a film about the Great Palestinian Revolt of 1936-1939[1], Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, known for her 2008 film *Salt of the Sea*, offers us a sweeping portrait of a pivotal historical episode, crucial for understanding the Palestinian revolution and placing it within a century-long continuum. ---- The film follows the lives of several Palestinians involved in the revolt, notably the character of Yusuf, played by Karim Daoud Anaya, whose life revolves around the movement, moving between the city and his village. This allows the film to evoke both the strike movement of the early months of the revolt and its aftermath in the form of armed insurrection.
The film highlights several things that are important for today: how Palestinian nationalism was forged, the class contradictions that ran through it with the lukewarm support of the large Arab landowners, but also the convergences between urban workers and peasants, between Christians and Muslims, etc. The film evokes the two facets of the colonial process of that time in Palestine, from which the current apartheid is inherited: the gradual encroachment of land by Zionist settlements, notably the famous "tower and palisade" kibbutzim, which are depicted here in their true military dimension, whereas for a long time the kibbutz took the form in the West, and especially on the left, of the idealized image of the socialist collectivist community, like a Soviet propaganda film where everyone works the land, especially women, to highlight the "modernity" that Zionism would bring. The film demonstrates that, far from waiting for settlers from Europe, Palestinian women participated in the uprising in various ways. However, the film also gives considerable weight to British colonial control and brutality through the figure of the infamous Captain Orde Wingate, portrayed by Robert Aramayo, a British torturer and Christian Zionist (also known as a restorationist: wishing to restore the ancient Jewish kingdom). Wingate's military legacy inspired the IDF, which adopted his methods, as the film highlights (the destruction of homes, the use of Palestinians bound to military vehicles as human shields, a practice employed by Israel...).
The film offers two hours of a welcome historical reminder at a time when the political legacy of Zionism remains a subject of debate on the left.
Nico Pasadena (UCL Montreuil)
Annemarie Jacir, Palestine 36, 1h59, 2025.
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[1]Palestine Dossier: "1936-1939: A Great Sabotaged Revolt," Alternative libertaire no. 192, March 10, 2010.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Voir-Palestine-36
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Link: (en) France, UCL AL #368 - Culture - See: Palestine 36 (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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