Alam

15

In this naturalistic drama, Tamer, a middle-class Arab teen living in a village in the Galilee, undergoes a political awakening catalysed by a pretty, outspoken girl from his high school class. Just like the protagonist, the audience, too, receives a lesson on the symbolism — and power — of flags and what constitutes resistance.

Khoury’s convincing and engaging screenplay perfectly captures teenage fearlessness and bravado along with a certain cluelessness about how the real world works. He shows the existential contradictions of the teens’ lives in images as well as words.