200 Meters

I once listened to a Jordanian Ambassador to the USA talk before an audience about his search for a word in Arabic which meant "compromise" in the sense of the very western English expression to have a "win-win situation" where both sides give up something in order to gain something and both feel like they have 'won'. He said that despite his best efforts he never found such a word in Arabic. He said that in Arabic culture there is only a sense of winning and losing. If one loses something he cannot be a winner. It is all or nothing. Black and White! The Victors and the Vanquished! All of which he said illustrated the culture gap between western democracies and Arab countries. This film somewhat explores this ideological divide.

This ideological divide is essentially the huge gap that separates Mustafa who refuses to compromise his non-Israeli Arab ideology for the welfare of his family, and Mustafa's Arab-Israeli compromising wife who he allows to live on the other side of the wall in order to raise his children in 'better' schools, etc. The fact that they still love each other in this film is a bit of an anomaly in this war of cultures.

This theme is also the background to the huge gap that separates the Arabic speaking Muslims of the West Bank from the Hebrew speaking Israelis on the other side of the wall. While Israeli's have at times tried be more pragmatic in their relations with the Arab speaking Muslims, their efforts have not been generally reciprocated and the Israelis built a wall of separation as much to keep non-Israeli Arabs out as to keep Israelis in.

Neither side is innocent in the ongoing conflict and Mustafa and his wife epitomize this divide to a large degree: the divide that separates idealists and pragmatists which ultimately keep Mustafa and his wife on opposite sides of the wall. His wife is effectively a pragmatist as are most of the Israeli Arabs who live in Israel. Mustafa is an idealist who will not compromise on his principals and is willing to give up a normal family existence living with his wife and children for a life of separation.

Who's to blame for this wall of separation? The Israelis? The non-Israeli Arabs? The film doesn't really explore the blame game very deeply, it just tries to film the craziness of it all mostly, though not exclusively, through the filter of the eyes of non-Israelis. So a bit one-sided as might be expected and no real solutions are presented ... and the craziness just continues.

I have no personal skin in this conflict and I do not believe given the history and cultures of both sides that there is likely to be any really viable solution that would meet the definition of a win-win situation anytime in the near or the more distant future. This film sort of illustrates this as much as it can be illustrated.

It is worth a watch, though the film offers little hope in my opinion for any real change as it documents the 'craziness' of both sides!

I watched this movie with my friend because we were interested in seeing how the director portrays the life of Palestinians.

It was a nice movie with a good soundtrack and perfect cinematography, however, I think the movie could have had a better story and shown more things about everyday life in occupied Palestine

I expected it to have a more in-depth story with more character dynamics.

To be fair, the dialogue was pretty natural and it actually felt like I was watching people with actual lives and families so overall pretty solid acting.

Maybe there should be some sort of spin off that focuses even more on the life of Mustafa.

I didn't see the movie, but hearing the plot, resembled me a lot the ideas of Smuggling Hendrix: the border, the movement freedom across it, the help from a smuggler. That was a kind of comedy set in Cyprus, this in Palestine, but the original idea is in the former, and it also depicts a region with less known border problems, still present. I will try to watch also this movie as well to understand better if the rest of the plot has other (original) merits. Smuggling Hendrix is not a pretentious movie, but it treats the same yproblem with ironic and delicate approach. Was this noted by anyone, or does this movie give credits to the earlier one?

I heard heard good things about this film, but having a quick peek on IMDB to read the first user review giving it 1/10, I had my reservations.

These were quickly dispelled as I felt myself being taken into the life of Mustufa and his family (Mustufa is brilliantly acted by Ali Suliman)

The movie has wonderful cinematography, showing the harsh yet warm scenery beautifully, with tender music accompanying the scenes to pull heart stings when required, but not to over sensationalise it.

As someone with no skin in the game for either side, I thought it was an extremely fair and balanced portrayal of the struggles of Palestinian families living in and around the West Bank and travelling through checkpoints daily.

Whatever you think of the situation, I would look at this film with open eyes, and you will be pleasantly surprised.

After the film finished, I checked IMDB to see who had directed it, and was more than surprized to find it was also a feature film directorial debut from the writer Ameen Nayfeh.

Looking forward to more of her films!

I am rating this at 9, although very rarely I have given such a high rating, and the reasons why I believe this film deserves a solid 9 is the fact that palestinian cinema and film industry has improved so much in the last few years, and Palestinian film makers have worked so hard for years to get some screen time, and now they're portraying the reality so vividly and using the real Palestinian narrative that's widely censored and silenced. The production is amazing, the actors are very talented and genuine, the music is so fitting and expressive of the scenes.

The fact that this is a reality in Palestine today is appalling, we are living in a world that still tolerates this in 2020.

I think such productions and stories are the ambassadors of this cause, and they are doing a good and talented job at it, they are telling a narrative that's parallel to the stereotype, and more powerful sometimes.

Well done the talented Ameen Nayfeh, and to Ms Odeh.