WAJIB

Writer & Director
Annemarie Jacir
(SALT OF THIS SEA, WHEN I SAW YOU)

Stars
Mohammad Bakri and Saleh Bakri

Palestinian born writer and director Annemarie Jacir’s award-winning comic drama about the lives of Palestinians living in Israel is derived from a real-life experience she was a part of. Spoken entirely in Arabic and set during a warm winter’s day in Nazareth shortly before Christmas, WAJIB (which loosely translates as social duty) reunites a father and son who have an estranged relationship, played by real-life father and son Mohammad and Saleh Bakri.

Discontent with several aspects of life in his birth place, Shadi (Saleh Bakri) has resided in Italy with his girlfriend for quite some time. Abu Shadi (Mohammad Bakri) begrudgingly accepts (at best!) his son’s living arrangements, is vocal of his thoughts about Shadi’s fashion sense and appearance, and is clearly disappointed that he’s an architect after having studied medicine at home in Israel. Shadi isn’t exactly in harmony with particular habits, judgements and local gossiping his divorced father continually shares either. Nevertheless, the two men attempt to get along when Shadi returns home to follow a local tradition when a family member is due to marry involving the hand delivery of invitations to several guests.

WAJIB (2)
This is such an effortlessly enjoyable and cleverly insightful film, which showcases a fractured relationship that has another chance to be mended. A relationship that people from all around the world can relate to, in which one party is modern and backing further away from outdated traditions, and the other invariably adheres to the old ways of living life. The conversations these men exchange, the eclectic characters they visit and a number of unexpected roadblocks they come across during their city trip is what consists of and thoroughly engages the senses in WAJIB. These smartly written developments define the characterisation of Abu Shadi and Shadi (performed in a very natural way by Mohammad and Saleh Bakri) and the dynamic of their relationship strongly. They also resurface the obvious friction between the men and act as a trigger for the intermittent escalation of emotions. Annemarie Jacir’s script irresistibly throws in the odd comment about life in Israel for a Palestinian and also works nicely as a sampling of the ancient city it is set and shot.