“The Teacher”, a quest for justice in the midst of colonization led by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri

Presented at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival, the first feature film by British director Farah Nabulsi shows the resilience of Palestinians undermined by abuses of power.

“I hope the film makes you think“, says Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi in a video shot for spectators of the Palestine Cine Festival. The filmmaker was unable to travel to talk about The Teacher, his first feature-length fiction film. Presented at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival last September and now at the Parisian festival, the film tells the story of Bassem, played by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri (The Blue of the Caftan), a Palestinian school teacher caught between his commitment to political resistance and his role as a father figure to one of his students, Adam.

Farah Nabulsi defines her film as a story “of parental love and a quest for justice”. “I hope that the film will provide a context that is sometimes missing in the speeches and which is so important for understanding the ongoing genocide.”, says Farah Nabulsi in the video for the festival. Nominated for the Oscars, his first film The Present was rewarded with more than 40 awards at different festivals and already featured actor Saleh Bakri.

Already awarded the Jury Prize and Best Actor for Saleh Bakri at the Red Sea International Film Festival, recognizing emerging talents from Saudi Arabia and the Arab world, The Teacher was filmed in Nablus in the occupied West Bank over three months.

Inspired by real events, the film shows the devastating inequalities between Palestinians and Israeli settlers, corrupting life in the territory.

In the sunny mountains as far as the eye can see in this arid Palestine where olive trees are king, Israeli soldiers prowl and abuse their power over the population. Bassem is a teacher in a village. Imprisoned numerous times for participating in the Palestinian resistance movement, he retired and has not returned to prison for 20 years. With Lisa, an English volunteer campaigning for the reintegration of incarcerated minors, he supervises several young boys who have been in prison.

One of them, Yacoub, ended up murdered by an Israeli settler who had wanted to deliberately burn down an olive field in front of his brother Adam, Lisa and Bassem. The director succeeds in making this drama a reflection of all the problems facing Palestinians. A “legalized crime, as Bassem defines it, in which settlers destroy homes without reason, threaten and ostracize Palestinians with impunity. Adam, supported by Bassem and Lisa, embarks on a trial to obtain justice for his brother. “It is rare for the State to initiate criminal proceedings.”explains soberly an Israeli lawyer committed against colonization.

“Do you still believe in justice?” Adam asks his teacher. “Maybe it’s possible.”, he replies with tears in his eyes. Farah Nabulsi shows with finesse to what extent injustices eat away at the characters, pushing them to commit the irreparable. Anger and the desire for revenge become Adam’s daily life. The flashbacks of the professor tormented by his son’s prison sentence echo his commitment to resistance, a hope of putting an end to the inequalities in the treatment of human lives.

“Grieving is difficult but killing that settler won’t get you anywhere.”, tries to convince Bassem. But hatred breeds hatred, violence breeds violence and Adam, caught in a vice, no longer has any hope. In this world governed by abuse of power, Farah Nabulsi nevertheless shows the resilience, strength and unwavering ability of Palestinians, attached to their dignity, to rebuild themselves.

The tenth edition of Palestine Film Festival 2024 in Ile-de-France and Paris runs until June 16.

Gender : Fiction
Director: Farah Nabulsi
Actors: Saleh Bakri, Imogen Poots, Muhammad Abed Elrahman, Mahmood Bakri
Country : Great Britain, Palestine
Duration : 115 min
Exit : Shortly
Distributer : Goodfellas
Synopsis : A Palestinian schoolteacher struggles to reconcile his risky involvement in political resistance with the possibility of a new relationship with Lisa, a volunteer, and the emotional support he provides to one of his students, Adam.