A great deal of attention is about to accrue to Egyptian director Mohamed Diab, who’s just finished shooting on the Marvel franchise series Moon Knight, slated for release sometime in 2022. That’s a good thing, because it likely means his Venice premiered Palestinian-set feature Amira can be quickly pushed aside. Diab’s previous features Cairo 678 and Clash showed him as a director keen to tackle hot button issues in creatively challenging ways, but while Amira also covers a social justice topic, its weak script combined with unconvincing characterizations and an aggravatingly unattractive mise-en-scène means that even solidarity with the issues raised take a back seat to more immediate cinematic concerns. Inspired by news stories about Palestinian prisoners paying Israeli guards to smuggle their sperm to wives on the outside, the film benefits from Ali Suleiman’s always welcome presence but there’s little else to commend here.
Shutterbug teen Amira (Tara Abboud) is proud to be the daughter of imprisoned freedom fighter Nawar (Ali Suleiman), though the only father-daughter time they’ve spent together is across the visiting room’s plexiglass barrier. Even Nawar’s wife Warda (Saba Mubarak) has never had conjugal relations with her husband since they married when he was already behind bars; their daughter was conceived by smuggling his sperm out of jail via a paid-off Israeli guard.
“Every part of me that escapes this prison is a part of me that’s free,” explains Nawar when asked why he wants to have another child, despite knowing he’ll never be able to raise him or her. Warda isn’t keen on the idea, but Amira, 17, feels everyone needs to accede to her dad’s wishes since he’s a hero to the nation. Despite misgivings, Warda agrees, but when his sperm is examined it’s discovered he’s got a congenital defect from birth that makes him infertile. A DNA test proves what Warda has tried so hard to keep secret: Nawar isn’t Amira’s father.
The news sends the young woman into a spiral, leading everyone – everyone – to behave in the most foolish ways possible, culminating in one of the more misguided finales of recent memory. The film’s faults permeate every level, starting with the lack of any mother-daughter chemistry between Amira and Warda, denying us a shred of investment in their relationship. Adding a red herring via Amira’s teacher Hani (Kais Nashif), who she suspects could potentially be her biological father until audiences are not-so-subtly told he’s gay, feels manipulative, and a late uncredited cameo by star Saleh Bakri in the most unlikely of roles merely generates a derisive snigger.
All these missteps practically bulldoze over the few nice touches, such as Amira’s satisfying look of defiance at the start when she and Warda are passing through an onerous Israeli checkpoint in order to visit Nawar, and then later on when he and Warda engage in phone sex, their tender exchanges breaking down the barriers of distance and hesitancy (it is unquestionably the film’s best scene). The problems of Amira aren’t in the concept, which is bold and intriguing, playing with notions of identity and belonging which exist on a parallel level with those that Palestinians face on a daily basis. It’s these characters, maddeningly devoid of reason, making one poor decision after another, that ruin our ability to connect with the themes.
In past collaborations with Diab, cinematographer Ahmed Gabr has delivered praiseworthy visuals keenly attuned to each situation, which makes the unattractive look of Amira so surprising. Much of the action takes place at night, setting up an over-obvious contrast between low blue light on Nawar versus muted yellow-red hues on Amira; another hallmark is constantly changing focal points, meant to replicate an implied tension between metaphorically seeing and not seeing, but the device becomes so overused as to feel arbitrary.
Director: Mohamed Diab
Screenplay: Mohamed Diab, Khaled Diab, Sherin Diab
Cast: Saba Mubarak, Ali Suleiman, Tara Abboud, Waleed Zuaiter, Ziad Bakri, Suhaib Nashwan, Reem Talhami, Kais Nashif, Saleh Bakri, Khaled Al Tarifi.
Producers: Mohamed Hefzy, Moez Masoud, Mona Abdel Wahab, Hany Abu Assad, Amira Diab, Sarah Goher.
Co-producers: Rula Nasser, Youssef Al Taher
Executive producer: Hisham El Araby
Cinematography: Ahmed Gabr
Production design: Nael Kanj
Costume design: Hamada Attalah
Editing: Ahmed Hafez
Music: Khaled Dagher
Sound: Julien Perez, Alexis Durand
Production companies: Film Clinic (Egypt), Agora Audiovisuals, Acamedia Pictures, Al Taher Media Production, The Imaginarium Films (Jordan).
World sales: Pyramide International
Venue: El Gouna Film Festival (Feature Narrative Competition)
In Arabic, Hebrew
98 minutes
