All That’s Left of You, written and directed by Cherien Dabis, is a gut-wrenching observation on the impact of war spread across three generations amidst the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After Palestinian teenager Noor (Muhammad Abed Elrahman) encounters a moment of violence at a protest at the Occupied West Bank in 1988 that shakes his families’ world forever, his mother Hanan (Dabis) recounts the political and emotional moments spanning over seven decades that detail one family’s legacy and the scars it carries, inviting questions of generational trauma, diaspora, and humanity.
The feature is told through a series of flashbacks within a framed story in which Hanan speaks to an off-screen person, explaining that what happened can only be understood in the context of her family’s history. Then the audience is taken back to three monumental moments in the family’s life, 1948, 1978, and 1988, when Noor has his experience on the protest.
Dabis gives a first-hand account of the Palestinian experience in its conflict, and she is unforgiving in the violence and heartbreak she shows, but it is needed for the audience to recognize the everyday struggles Palestinians have faced and will continue to face. Dabis is able to linger in moments of devastation and destruction, not cutting away when it would be deemed appropriate, instead holding a shot or scene to force the audience to endure with these characters that have no choice but to.
Dabis allows for moments of hope in this film, however small, leaning into human connection and peace rather than shying away in fear of watering down the overarching message. The second half of the feature plays into this heavily, using Noor’s experience to show that every issue that arises cannot be resolved, but that, through finding common ground, a sense of peace can be found.
Dabis does not sugar-coat the themes of her story or make up an antidote that makes the audience feel better; she is brutally honest in how she tells her story, as shown in her own character’s answers about her family’s situation. The family’s interpersonal relationships are deeply affected by the war, as shown firsthand in an intense interaction between IDF soldiers, young Noor (Sanad Alkabareti), and his father, Salim (Saleh Bakri). Allowing viewers to see how a different form of heartbreak takes place when the people closest to you start resenting you for taking action or not taking enough.
Though all performances are standouts in this feature, Dabis’ Hanan and Bakri’s Salim are forces of nature on screen, both together and apart. There is a quiet resilience in their love, formed over years of trials, tribulations, heartache, and grief, as detailed in the story. At one point, the viewer may believe they have gone their separate ways, but they never do, remaining steadfast at each other’s sides. Dabis and Bakri play off each other well, allowing space for the other’s performance while not drifting too far apart.
Rating: 4/5
All That’s Left of You highlights three different generations of a Palestinian family as they grapple with forced displacement and the scars that it leaves. It is a brutally honest portrayal of a family affected by war and how generations of said family are shaped by its brutal wake.
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