The film reviewed in the following article featured as part of the Falastin Film Festival, a collective that, as stated in their official website, is “using cinema, primarily, as a tool of resistance, [they] strive to decolonize the narrative and equip audiences with historical context” as well as “[building] community while celebrating Palestinian art and culture through cinema, music, cuisine, and other storytelling mediums.”
As Suha tries to navigate her family’s life through the second intifada, she finds herself filming daily events. Through her old 90s camera, she creates historical footage of a family’s acclimatisation and adaptation to this new life, filled with Israeli machinery and loss, of people, but also of memories, ancestry, and identity.
The second intifada took place in the early 2000s, as Israel retaliated against Palestinians of the West Bank for popular uprisings. It led to thousands of deaths, including more than 1,300 minors.
Throughout Three Promises, we follow one hour of footage showing Ramzi, the father, Dima, the eldest, Suha, the mother, and finally Youssef, the youngest child, about 8 at the time. Christmases are shown, as are families, the houses, the grandparents, the feelings, and the trees. We discover the beauty of the West Bank through its people and scenery.
The film shows a hopeful humanity through a period of violence, a period lacking basic empathy. It shows people mitigating conflict, torn between choices.
In the face of events, the Srouji are displaced, their village being attacked regularly. As they leave, they will discover their house is riddled with bullets, whilst the neighbours’ one is destroyed.
Suha is fearful for her family. The life-defining question arises: stay for resilience, because you are meant to be here, or leave for the very notion of security.
As events pass and fear grows, Suha finds herself making promises to a God she doesn’t believe in. Three times, she will promise to leave if they are spared. She will keep the third one.
This film is a testimony of events that are too easily forgotten, showing a snippet of Palestinian history through a humane and relatable family, recalling the importance of humanity.
Image by Matteo Crawford (@matteoquerinicrawford) provided by Falastin Film Festival
