Farha
Platform: Netflix
Director: Darin J. Sallam
Release Year: 2022 (2021 film per Netflix)
Watch Date: December 4, 2022
My Rating: 10
It’s been too long since I blogged about a movie. Which is too bad because I really love doing movie reviews. More on my hiatus on the misadventures blog.
I 1000% recommend this movie. If you are expecting it to be fast paced, it isn’t. It’s totally worth it though As always, spoiler alert.
Farha is about a Palestinian girl in 1948 during the time of the Nakba. For those of you who don’t know what that is it was the forcible taking of Palestinian land for the Jewish people after the atrocities of WWII. The taken land became Israel. It’s ironic that to give back to people who were taken from their homes a murdered….other people had to be taken from their homes and murdered.
Farha’s father tries to get her to leave the city with another family, but she chooses to stay with him. To keep her safe he locks her in their food storage area and tells her he will be back for her. Farha can do nothing but listen to the gunfire and screams outside. Eventually all goes quiet. All of Farha’s attempts to free herself fail.
After a long time (a few days?) a family comes to the house. The mother is pregnant and in labor. The father and two daughters help birth the baby (a boy named Mohammad). Once the family is inside the house Farha is able to get the father’s attention and he starts to try to get her out, but then soldiers come. The family hides and he says he is alone.
The soldiers think he has come for weapons. A traitor with a bag over his head tells the soldiers the man isn’t from there and begs them to leave the father alone. The soldiers eventually find the whole family. They are lined up against the wall and executed. Except the baby. While the soldiers clean up we learn that the traitor is Farha’s father. I was so disappointed. As they are leaving the other soldiers hand the baby to a Jewish soldier and tell him that they left the baby for him and not to waste a bullet on the baby.
Here is where I got really mad….and annoyed that I am empathetic. I understand the soldier’s apprehension to kill a baby. You shouldn’t kill anyone. But what he does is worse in my opinion. He leaves the baby on the ground and catches up with the others. The baby cries and cries and cries and it is heartbreaking. And for Farha to have to listen to it unable to help…. She tries in vain to get out to the baby. But he dies after hours of suffering starvation and neglect.
As if all of that weren’t terrible enough, Farha gets her period. Holy Hannah, that’s unfortunate. Farha eventually finds a gun buried in the lentils and is able to shoot her way out of the storage room. But there is no one left. She cleans herself up, eats a fig, and we watch her walk off into the sunset so to speak. This movie is based on the real life memory of a woman named Radiyyeh, who eventually made it to Syria.
Watching Radiyyeh’s struggle and being able to see what she saw was eye opening. Her resilience is both sad and inspiring. She had two choices when she found that gun. Use it on herself or use it on the door. I was a little worried she was going to use it on herself. But her determination to get free….Amazing.
I gave this movie a 10 because it is very well done. The cinematography, casting, and script were amazing. The perspective was horrifyingly beautiful. I definitely recommend this movie as a must see. Interestingly, the Israeli government has been trying to do a smear campaign against the movie and Netflix. Some people are going so far as to say that it didn’t actually happen….which I find funny because people also say that about the holocaust…….news flash, both absolutely happened.
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Photo Credit: https://www.moviezine.se/movies/farha
