‘The Teacher’ Review: Saleh Bakri Commands a Potent Social Realist Drama Set in Palestine’s West Bank
Watermelon Pictures
Since the Gaza War began on October 7, 2023, the conflict between Israel and Palestine has been a prominent feature for many news outlets across the globe, bringing the destruction and violence of the confrontation to the forefront of public consciousness. Despite its notoriety in contemporary media, few consider the historical context of the contention between the two Middle Eastern countries, which began shortly after Israel’s foundation was assembled by Western powers following World War II. In the nearly eighty years that have passed, Israel has waged fifteen attacks on Palestine, displacing, debasing, and massacring thousands in the process.
Throughout her career, Palestinian-British filmmaker Farah Nabulsi has showcased the harsh dilemma of her native country through her work, using personal connections to the land and its people to create emotional incarnations that exist far removed from the at-times numbing nature of the twenty-four-hour news cycle. This humanistic approach is fully showcased through Nabulsi’s latest film, The Teacher, which also serves as her feature-length debut. Positioning empathetic character studies amid the plight of the Palestinian struggle against their encroaching oppressors, The Teacher taps into a dynamic filmmaking process while also platforming one of our world’s most concerning international clashes.
The teacher at the heart of the film is Basem El-Saleh (Saleh Bakri), who oversees an all-boys English course in the West Bank village of Burin. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that Basem once lived a happy, customary life with a wife and child, an existence fractured by Israeli forces when his son is detained for his involvement with protest movements as a teenager. Only able to recall that era of his life through memory, Basem now balances his time between bettering the lives of his students and covertly working for the Palestinian resistance. Basem takes a shine to two of his students in particular: brothers Adam (Muhammad Abed El Rahman) and Yacoub (Mahmoud Bakri), the latter of whom was once friends with his own son. One afternoon, among the quintessential olive trees of the West Bank, a skirmish between the brothers and Israeli settlers leads to an unexpected and brutal tragedy.
In the aftermath of the cataclysm, Basem takes on a more profound concern for Adam’s destiny, stepping in as a father figure to guide the teenager through the increasingly tumultuous circumstances of their village. In conjunction with his heightened paternal role, Basem is assigned by the resistance to oversee the concealment of a young American-Israeli hostage, who they hope to use to negotiate the release of over 1000 Palestinian prisoners. Torn between watching over Adam and his responsibilities to the resistance movement, Basem is propelled to make choices that alter the course of his future –– and Adam’s –– forever.
Watermelon Pictures
With The Teacher, Nabulsi assembles a gripping illustration of life for Palestinians in the West Bank, bolstered by the emotional quests of its equally charismatic and damaged central characters. Moments of ratcheted tension at the hands of the intruding settlers are balanced with delicate reprieves, showcasing the communion between the villagers of Burin despite the progressively anguished circumstances they face. Mirroring the duality of its emotional beats, the director collaborates with French cinematographer Gilles Porte to create a visual language that bounces back and forth between taut freneticism with handheld camera work and a poised control that elevates the film’s most touching scenes.
A familiar face from works like The Blue Katftan and Nabulsi’s Oscar-nominated short The Present, Bakri’s brilliant leading performance serves as the most powerful element of The Teacher. The actor injects Basem’s character with delicate strength and a palpable empathy that bleeds through in every scene while also communicating the immense suffering of his past. Bakri’s primary scene partner El Rahman also impresses in the movie despite being a relative newcomer to acting. Through his portrayal of Adam, El Rahman channels an adolescent –– at times misguided –– sense of rage and despair that intensely reflects his character’s position in a world that feels like it is coming apart at the seams. The heartwarming chemistry between these characters functions as the film’s emotional nucleus, particularly as The Teacher’s narrative progresses and the two embrace a father/son dynamic.
Despite its compelling performances and impassioned impact, The Teacher falls victim to the at-times superfluous narrative trappings of its screenplay, penned by Nabulsi herself. English actress Imogen Poots appears as Lisa, a volunteer worker entangled in a romance with Basem that results in an underdeveloped subplot far less engrossing than the movie's weightier storylines, despite Poots' sensitive interpretation of the character. Another lagging secondary plot manifests through the narrative of the Israeli hostage's father: suggested to parallel Basem's own situation as a blossoming paternal figure, the internal struggles of the hostage's father are never illuminated enough to stand up to those of the movie's protagonist. While these periphery storylines never threaten to take precedence over The Teacher's central figures and themes, they weaken its overall emotional potency.
Watermelon Pictures
Through its dedication to the people and community it portrays, The Teacher is a thoroughly moving illustration of the contemporary plight of the Palestinian people and their struggle for autonomy. World premiering at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival approximately a month before the Gaza War began, Nabulsi's commitment to highlighting the longtime struggle of her homeland speaks to the importance of storytelling and its ability to convey some of the globe's greatest injustices. Through its incorporations of the same components of life under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, The Teacher makes for a perfect double feature with the recent Oscar-winner No Other Land.
3/5
2023 | 118 min| Color | Arabic and English, with English subtitles
'The Teacher' begins its theatrical release in the United States on Thursday, April 11, courtesy of Watermelon Pictures. Click here to find showtimes near you.