Documentary tells the story of a Palestinian mother’s loss
Nisaa FM: - The film 'Today They Took My Son’ by director Farah Nabulsi highlights the plight of Palestinians children. The film, which is available online, tells the story of a mother’s loss.
A heart wrenching story
The story begins with Khalid, riding his bike through the narrow streets of a nameless town, his father’s voice narrating his adventure from somewhere in the background. Reminiscent of many a home video the world over, any sense of familiarity is quickly jolted away as the film cuts to documentary footage of a house demolition, of men in army uniforms surrounding an unknown figure, of the agony of an old, bearded man as he sits among the rubble of his home.
This juxtaposition of home video-style footage, of birthday cakes and makeshift football matches, and of raw, distressing scenes of Khalid’s arrest is an ongoing theme throughout the film. Narrated by his mother, her
eyes dark and harrowed, she asks how “they who have taken everything else” could take her son away.
“The body refuses to hear what it has always feared,” she says, as she runs in vain through the streets to
the spot where Khalid was taken.
'Today They Took My Son’ narrates a situation that has become daily reality for many Palestinians living in
the West Bank, as according to a 2013 UNICEF report every 12 hours, a Palestinian child is detained, interrogated, prosecuted and/or imprisoned.
The words of Khalid’s mother: “I know the earth will keep spinning around my pain, ignorant of all that has
now changed in my world”, strike at the heart of the matter, that such accounts of suffering so often fall on
deaf ears among the international community.
Nabulsi - giving a voice to the silenced
For director Farah Nabulsi, herself a Palestinian living in diaspora in London, 'Today They Took My Son’ is a vehicle for allowing others to see and feel what Palestinians in the Occupied Territories experience on a regular basis.
Nabulsi explains, “I always thought I understood the injustices suffered by her people, yet it wasn’t until I visited the territories and witnessed the treatment of children that I began to ask; what if that was my child? What we are seeing is a systematised process of breaking a society through their children.”
She instinctively knew that offering sympathy and the occasional charity was no longer enough. Hence, she founded a media production company, Native Liberty, whose artistic works could help others see and feel what the Palestinians experience.
In the belief that the arts play a crucial role in changing the world, Nabulsi hopes that, by documenting the suffering of Palestinians through accessible art forms, awareness and empathy can be brought about. By giving voice to the silenced, Nabulsi seeks to rehumanise the Palestinian situation and provide a counter narrative to the powerful lobbyists and international players who deny the Palestinian situation.
Her final line “When will he come back? Will he come back? What shall we tell him of the world when he does?” asks us all to consider our silence.
The film was released on International Human Rights Day December 10, and it is available online.
Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com