‘Once Upon A Time In Gaza’ review: Satirical, resonant follow-up to ‘Gaza Mon Amour’

Dirs. Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser. France/Palestine/Germany/Portugal/Jordan//Qatar 2025. 90mins

Whereas the world sees each day photographs of Gaza beneath siege, there’s a notable dearth of images of on a regular basis Gazan life – and of the Gazan creativeness. Gaza-born film-making brothers Arab and Tarzan Nasser are outstanding exponents of the latter, and As soon as Upon A Time In Gaza is the newest of their fictions instantly rising from their tradition and expertise, following 2015’s Dégradé and 2020’s wry, romantically-toned Gaza Mon Amour. This a lot harder-edged drama deploys a wide range of film modes – revenge thriller, motion film, comedy – to talk not directly however resonantly about Gaza’s present plight, but additionally to present a historic sense of current life and struggles in Gaza Metropolis.

The truth of Gaza’s present scenario hovers over the whole movie

Like Dégradé, which premiered in Critics Week and Gaza Mon Amour, which was Palestine’s submission to the 2021 Academy awards, this taut, succinct movie ought to win widespread consideration following its bow in Un Sure Regard. MAD Options will launch within the MENA area whereas Dulac Distribution has French distribution rights.

The primary observe particularly addressing the current is a gap extract from Donald Trump’s weird, ominous hypothesis that Gaza may turn into “the Riviera of the Center East”. However the motion begins in 2007, in a rundown metropolis markedly bereft of Riviera glamour and already beneath blockade by Israel. Majd Eid performs Osama, a burly falafel store proprietor who has a sideline in promoting illicitly obtained painkillers. His reluctant assistant is a slight, nervous younger man named Yahya (Nader Abd Alhay), who works in his store. Osama is beneath strain from crooked cop Abou Sami (Ramzi Maqdisi) to work as his informant; when he holds out, issues come to a brutal head.

Right here the motion skips two years, and shifts into a really totally different mode, as a clearly traumatised Yahya is approached by a movie director (Is’haq Elias). Yahya, it seems, resembles the militant whose funeral we glimpsed in the beginning, and he’s now enlisted to play him in an motion film sponsored by Gaza’s Ministry of Tradition. Cautiously accepting the position, Yahya finds himself on a considerably farcical shoot on which actual weapons, together with loaded weapons, are used as a result of there is no such thing as a price range for particular results. The Nasser brothers play the film-within-a-film considerably for laughs, till Abou Sami, who has one thing to cover, turns up on set to ensure it stays hidden.

That is an altogether self-reflexive movie, commenting on the distinction between filmed and actual imagery, but additionally making it clear that fiction cinema generally is a type of resistance. There are some heightened results, notably a trailer for the film that’s but to be made, however a lot of the movie works in a muted, realist, atmospherically dense thriller mode.

The truth of Gaza’s present scenario hovers over the whole movie, with glimpsed headlines – notably in newspapers used to wrap falafel pittas – referring to mounting pressures introduced by the Netanyahu authorities. Intriguingly, although, the movie largely chooses to symbolize battle with Israel not directly, within the type of the Palestinian film actors taking part in IDF troopers, who at one level are taken for actual by a confused onlooker.

Spare building features a few tips, notably the midpoint soar in time and path, and a quick flashback on the finish, displaying how Yahya and Osama first met – a uncommon scene shot in broad daylight, displaying (comparatively) brighter days earlier than determined occasions set in.

Abrupt dramatic pacing implies that the ultimate confrontation on the movie shoot considerably lacks momentum. However the tight concentrate on three characters pays off very successfully, not least with the quietly charismatic Nader Abd Alhay morphing from bashful sidekick to haggard outcast to unbowed hero – even when it’s in within the guise of another person. Majd Eid is suitably snaky because the devious cop, whereas Eid provides the movie’s first half a particular focus as an indomitable heavyweight anti-hero.

Gaza Mon Amour DoP Christophe Graillot returns to put on some moody nocturnal tones and to rustle up a mixture of visible textures, together with varied pastiche kinds, whereas Amine Bouhafa’s rating mixes Center East with a touch of Morricone, not least in some plangent trumpet laments.