FARHA is a Jordanian historical drama movie about the Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe. The movie sets in 1948, the year when Israel declared independence and Palestinian Arabs were permanently and brutally displaced. Directed and produced by Darin J. Sallam, the story is based on a true event about a girl named Radiyyeh. This 92-minute movie, despite being filmed within limited stages and characters, was able to bring out the true tragic “normal” lives of Palestinian civilians. Karam Taher led the story as Farha, the cast was able to bring out the emotions of a soon-to-be adult as the story depicts the girl’s tragic coming-of-age experience. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 14, 2021. As Jordan’s official submission for the Oscars, Farha has already won several awards, including the Best Youth Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2022.
Farha, a fourteen-year-old girl from a Palestinian hillside village, is the protagonist of the story. Being the daughter of the mayor of the village, she enjoys the liminal privilege of having a chance to be educated in the city, unlike other village girls who were destined to study merely the holy book and that of the household. Farha’s dreams of growing into a teacher and opening up an all-girls school in her village unfold the second layer of oppression women face in the already prevalent Israeli despotism. However, the aspiration blossomed and became a promise between Abu Farha and Farha. It doesn’t take long to change the entire course of the movie, turning tragic and doomy, simultaneously for its people where every morning dawned is another step closer to occupation and another night spared of elimination.
Almost the entire film takes place in a small, dark storage room, but it is full of life. She patiently and quietly awaits her father’s promise of return, but she gradually loses hope. She stays there for an indefinite amount of time, living her life through the small cracks in the door. Watching disturbing realities, departing families, and dissolving hopes, she turns into a helpless witness. As the character weakens each day and night, the unbearable trauma leads to her coming of age during such a harsh situation. The camera lies inside the storage room for almost the whole film. But despite the same scenes and faces, the audience was able to experience the confinement, speaking of how the reality is worse. The character is shown a dreadful transformation, from hoping for her father’s return to somehow escaping the dark. The struggles of entering adulthood in such a horrific state clearly display how the war lies inside the houses, along with that on the grounds.
The looming father-daughter space on the screen serves as the film’s primal backdrop, where the daughter eventually lingers alone with the remnants of her father—a few unfinished promises. Solitude and anxiety drive her to escape her only safe spot, irrespective of what awaits her outside. However, once she comes out of her captivity, the void of a helpless future is what she addresses. The extreme binary of the setting that Farha addresses before and after the occupation unravels the blatant realities of the catastrophe, Nakba. Farha walks out of the village in pain and despair.
This film was able to bring to light a relatively small-scale tragedy involving Palestinian civilians, which speaks volumes. In a glimpse, their dreams felt impossible and far from reality. Through the scenes of kids throwing rocks at American soldiers, the movie displays how such horrifying episodes in their lives made them cautious of the little resistance they were entitled to. They are shown celebrating being able to hit the soldiers with rocks, which are painfully destroying the childhood of the Palestinian children. Their lives turned upside-down in the blink of an eye. All of them having to abandon their lives—Farha’s dreams of studying “Geography, Mathematics, and English,” her newlywed friends, and her father’s expectations of saving his people—are the actual war the Palestinians are suffering in. While all we discuss are the damaged buildings and razed streets, this film was able to converse with thousands of destroyed dreams.
The sound effects were able to depict the horrific, confined state of Farha’s hideout. The cinematography and the set designs were perfect for expressing the tragic transformations of her village, from the joyous marriage aura to the demolished streets. Along with all the disastrous events, the movie successfully portrayed a sensitive and beautiful portrait of traditional Palestinian village life. Miss Sallam captured the beautiful life Farha led before the Israeli invasion, talking and enjoying her time with her best friend, spending her time reading and collecting fruits along the river, and building up her courage to uphold a strong will for her passion. Many reviewed Farha for bringing out the true emotions of the Palestinians during the Nakba, which people have long heard from their grandparents. This film is a reminder and an honest portrait of the Palestinian upheaval and the Nakba. It not only reminded me of the brutalities of the Israeli occupation but also of the fragrance of Palestinian resistance—through men, women, and children.
