RIP Mohammad Bakri
RIP Mohammad Bakri (November 27, 1953 - December 24, 2025)
A huge loss to Arab cinema, especially Palestinian cinema.
From The quiet Palestinian: actor-director Mohammad Bakri on his life and work, an interview and feature by Joseph Fahim for BFI published in July.
Throughout his career, he’s been adamant on taking on roles that “did not offend Arabs and Palestinians”. His Palestinian films were no one-dimensional calls for resistance, however. They provide a portal into multifaceted Palestinian experience: the fading belief in armed resistance in the ‘80s films, the celebration of the submerged Palestinian heritage in Tale of the Three Jewels, the criticism of debilitating bureaucracy and corruption in Laila’s Birthday (2008), and the unsettling sense of resignation of leading an incomplete life under a ceaseless occupation in Wajib (2017). Bakri’s characters are no heroes: they are quiet, practical men worn out by an inhospitable reality they struggle to alter.
Also from the same article, about Jenin Jenin and its sequel that is currently banned.
The five documentaries Bakri has directed to date reflect his growing disillusionment with the Israeli left. His latest film, Jenin, Jenin 2, was also banned last year, this time with no court order – in a breach of normal Israeli law. The spectre of his long and well-documented battle with the Israeli legal system still haunts Bakri, who has been paying his fine for defaming the Israeli soldier in monthly instalments ever since. “I don’t see Israel as my enemy,” he says, “but they consider me their enemy. They see me as a traitor… for making a movie.”
A video from last year with Bakri discussing the two films:
In his latest documentary, “Janin, Jenin,” Palestinian director Muhammad Bakri returns to his previous film, which achieved international fame and aroused the wrath of the Israeli occupation, “Jenin, Jenin.” The first film was produced as the alleys of Jenin camp were still processing the aftermath of the refugee camp invasion. The second film portrays that the occupation is far more violent, and is still the same brutal occupation, 20 years later.
You can watch Jenin Jenin here:
1948 is another documentary directed by Mohammad Bakri, made in 1998.
The film 1948 is a record of memories of a group of elderly Arabs. The director, Mohammad Bakri, employs poems by Mahmoud Darwish. In their own words, the Palestinians interviewed describe the moments when they became refugees. They described the brutality in which they were deported, or the fear of massacre that made them and their families flee for their lives. They speak without blame or even protest.