Atash
Screening: Monday 18 May 2009
Israel/France/USA 2005.Director: Tawfik Abu Wael.
Starring: Hussein Yassin Mahajne, Amal Bweerat, Ahmad Abed El Gani.
Subtitles.
Certificate: 12A. 110 minutes.
Synopsis
Stern patriarch Abu Shukri (Mahajne) has moved his family into a derelict Arab settlement where they eke out a living by making charcoal. He is ruled by tradition and refuses to allow his son to continue at school, insisting that he help him steal wood from the nearby Israeli-run forest. His attitude towards the womenfolk is even more restrictive: they are not allowed to leave the village but have to tend the wood fires incessantly. Resentments simmer.One day Abu Shukri decides to build an illegal water pipeline to their shabby home. This precious resource has to be guarded and the ensuing tension triggers a significant shift in the family’s relationships, with tragic results.
Abu Shukri believes he who controls water, controls everything but his children, especially the son (El Gani), think not. The desire for self-determination cannot be crushed, nor the need for love and acceptance. The elements water, fire, smoke and earth are used extensively throughout the movie as metaphors to represent such things as freedom, emotion, relationships.
The action is set in just one location, Um El Fahem, (translation: Charcoal’s Mother) an Arab village in Israeli territory. Charcoal is no longer the mainstay of the economy but Wael was born and raised here during the time when it still was. He says the reason he wanted to use this village was because he knows and loves it; he understands the people and why they think the way they do this was important to the way the story unfolds.
There is no cinema or theatre in Um El Fahem and certainly no professional actors. Despite this, the director decided he had to cast locals. His nephew and aunt take leading roles as the mother and son, whilst other villagers agreed to play the remaining parts. The performance he has coaxed out of the reluctant Mahajne is particularly impressive.
Asked whether this is a political movie, Wael replied that it is but he chose to reflect politics through the complex relationships between people. Thus, there is no explicit reference to the Arab-Israeli conflict, instead it casts a shadow over every shot.
