Keeping the Castle
Movie review of 'Private'
Volume 4, Number 46
| November 17 - 23,
2005FILMPrivate
Directed by Saverio
CostanzoTypecast
ReleasingOpens Nov. 18 at the
AngelikaKeeping the
Castle“Private”
sets the Israel-Palestine problem in one house with owner and
occupierCourtesy
Typecast Releasing
Mohammad Bakri, a noted Palestinian
actor, plays Mohammed, whose family must endure the occupation of their home by
Israeli security forces.BY SETH J.
BOOKEYA man’s home is his castle
in some parts of the world, even if your neighbors don’t think much of the
house. Saverio Costanzo reduces the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a
single home, situated between a rock and a hard
place.Mohammed (Mohammad Bakri) and his
wife Samia (Areen Omari) and five kids live in an isolated house between an
Israeli settlement and a Palestinian village. The fighting in the area prompts
the Israeli Defense Forces to occupy the house, either with or without the
presence of the family. Mohammed won’t leave, not wanting to be a refugee.
But staying means a host of indignities also, like all of them sleeping in the
same room, locked in by the soldiers, who also forbid them to go above the first
level. And, none of their friends is allowed to
visit.A father’s word is generally
law in the small fiefdom of a family here, but staying in these conditions
causes fault lines. One son become inert, watches TV endlessly, and begs to go
stay with a friend. The once-fiesty youngest girl, Sarah (Sarah Hamzeh), becomes
vacant and scared when she gets locked out of the room one night. The oldest
girl, Mariam (Hend Ayoub), cannot stop herself from go upstairs, in part because
she is fascinated with one of the soldiers, while the eldest boy, Jamal (Marco
Alsaying), a teen, finds his mind drifting to terrorism, even though his father
wants to fight nonviolently. When the soldiers randomly take apart their
makeshift greenhouse repeatedly, Mohammed insists that they will simply keep
fixing it until the soldiers tire of the
game.The soldiers, officially
representing Israel, act autonomously, and their leader becomes abusive toward
Mohammed, humiliating him in front of his wife and children. But even the
soldiers privately admit the whole thing is rather pointless and intrusive; they
are just doing their
jobs.“Private” never leaves
this family’s home, and uses hand-held cameras and point of view shots to
give the film a reality-show feeling that makes the family’s plight more
pressing. Using an average family and their home gets across the message that
every person deserves basic dignities. Imagine soldiers occupying your home and
having to ask permission to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. After
seeing “Private,” you
will.When it seems easier to give up and
leave, Mohammed tell his wife he won’t stop her. She fears the children
are changing permanently, but he says if they leave, the kids will “hate
themselves and hate the Israelis.” Living in world without easy answers,
it’s interesting to see someone being given an easy out and refusing to
take it, hoping for the eventuality of good prevailing.
Posted: Fri - November 18, 2005 at 10:36 PM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:04 PM
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