|
Reminiscent of Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad’s controversial pseudo-documentary Ford Transit (2002), Rashid Masharawi’s Ticket to Jerusalem also follows a harried West Bank resident as he tries to go about his business in the occupied territories during the second Intifada. Lining up at checkpoints and dodging violent hot spots, the graying Jaber travels from one refugee camp to the next in his decrepit jeep hauling a jury-rigged projector, his mission being to show kids cartoons. Few understand, of course. His friends tell him that those in the camps need food and jobs, not movies. His father tells him to get real work. His wife, an EMT, is annoyed that he has no time for her. The friction intensifies when Jaber gets it into his head to show a film in Jerusalem under the noses of the Israeli authorities. No one will mistake Ticket for a genuine documentary: the film is programmatic and the acting a little wooden. But in some ways it’s more honest and idealistic than Abu-Assad’s film. And Masharawi makes the case that though movies don’t always reflect the truth, they fill a need as essential as food or freedom. In Arabic with English subtitles. (85 minutes)
BY PETER KEOUGH
|
