Rewarded at the last Cannes Film Festival in the category “Un Certain Regard”, Once Upon a Time in Gaza shines with its exploration of genres and its references, but also by its metafilmic dimension. A nugget of the genre, to discover indoors.
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A modern and humanist fable at the crossroads
Once upon a time, in Gaza, in 2007. Yahya (Nader Abd Alhay), a dreamy student, befriends Osama (Majd Eid), a charismatic dealer with a big heart. Together, they ride a drug trafficking, hidden in their modest falafels shop. But they cross the path of a corrupt cop (Ramzi Maqdisi), who came to upset their plan.
Presented at the last edition of the Cannes Film Festival in the “Un Certain Regard” category, where he was rewarded for the staging prize, Once Upon a Time in Gaza marks the great return of the Nasser brothers, who already signed degraded in 2015 and, in 2020, the sublime Gaza Mon Amour.
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In theaters this week, this third feature film completes a Palestinian cinematographic saga whose two directors made their trademark, by combining the ingredients that make the success of their signature recipe: a deep attachment to the Palestinian people, to its wealth and their diversity, without ever taking the conflict as a narrative origin but rather as a backdrop, almost imperceptible.
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And the hybridization of genres, presents throughout Once Upon a Time in Gaza as in red thread, is for the brothers Nasser the engine of a real demonstration of the plurality of Palestinian lives. Agile, the film oscillates between drama, comedy, thriller and Buddy Movie, without ever ceasing to surprise and until reaching the metafilmic sphere when the character of Yahya (Nader Abd Alhay) is contacted to embody a vigilante in “The first Palestinian action film”, like a Robin des Bois de la Bange de la Gaza.
“” “The goal was not fair to surprise the spectatorexplain the filmmakers, But to show a rhythm that reflects that of life in Gaza, often fragmented and full of contradictions. In Gaza, there is war and death, but also life and resistance. There is the occupation, but also a desire to (over) life.»
An authentic story, but responsible for references
In addition to the plurality of genres which constitutes the framework of its intrigue, Once Upon a Time in Gaza shines with an eclectic cast, based on three distinct pillars: the idealistic student, the dealer with a big heart and the corrupt cop. Each of them, in his own way, illustrates a vision of power. Whether legal and imposed (the policeman embodied by Ramzi Maqdisi), social (osama) or even symbolic (Yahya, who gradually becomes with his acting career a figure of resistance), power and his use speaking a lot about modern man, and this ternary representation is reminiscent of another iteration: the good, the brute and the gross of Sergio Leone. A reference that the Nasser brothers like to quote: “These characters do not only exist in Gaza. They exist all over the world. We can compare them to the characters of Western: “The good, the brute and the ugly ». […] What makes them unique in the context of Gaza is that in spite of their differences, they all share one thing: they are victims of an extremely difficult reality that they have not chosen.»
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Because the accuracy of this third feature film is one last thing: its authenticity. Without dealing strictly speaking of the war which ravages the Gaza Strip, sometimes using humor and absurdity to portray the situation, the film of the Nasser brothers breathes their experience of the oppression perpetrated by the Israeli regime and the forces of Hamas.
Born in Palestine in 1988, the two filmmakers endeavor to represent the “True Face of Gaza”, Whose isolation since taken by Hamas in 2007 created a confinement of the community on itself, as in a reality in its own right.“ “We wanted to show the ordinary aspect of Gaza, attempts to have a “normal” life in a completely abnormal situation.»
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Humanist and modern fable at the crossroads, brilliant with authenticity and resilience, Once Upon a Time in Gaza is to be discovered in the cinema now.