The next film to be shown at Corrie Film Club, on Sunday October 9th is Wajib (Palestine 2017 Annemarie Jacir . 96 mins. Cert 15), starting at 7.30pm in Corrie and Sannox village hall.
About Wajib – After years abroad in Italy, Shadi (Saleh Bakri) returns to his native Nazareth. But this is no spectacular homecoming. He’s back somewhat begrudgingly to honour his “wajib” (or duty) to hand out invitations to his sister’s wedding with his father. Played by real-life father and son Mohammad and Saleh Bakri, the simmering tension between the two – who are often stuck in a car, more often than not in traffic – builds, exposing the sometimes-comic chasms that exist between men who live in different worlds but share an unshakable bond.
Writing in a 2018 review in The Guardian, Leslie Felperin said:
“Jacir’s script neatly unpeels the layers over the course of the movie, and interleaves the simmering tension with moments of terrific comedy – for example, when the family realises the wedding invitations have the wrong day. With judicious clarity, the film lays out conflicting views in an Arabic-speaking community, a mix of Muslims and Christians, under immense political and economic pressure certainly, but also just as burdened by the romantic nationalism of exiles – such as Shadi’s girlfriend’s dad – as it is by oppression from the Israeli state.
You might argue that the script is perhaps too tidy and neat, but the rich sense of place and multidimensional characters are too seductive to resist.”
