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Film Review: The Stranger (2021) by Ameer Fakher Eldin

A slow-burn that takes its time to steep

's “” (Al Garib) will play as one of the last screenings of this year's , the largest of its kind in North America. Though this is only Eldin's first feature, his movie has reaped international accolades. “The Stranger” premiered at the 78th Venice Film Festival's Giornate degli Autori last year, where it took home the Edipo Re Award. At the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, DP Niklas Landschau walked away for his Achievement in Cinematography. Now, “The Stranger” is up to bat next year as Palestine's nomination for Best International Feature for the 94th Academy Awards. 

The Stranger is screening at the Arab Film Festival

“The Stranger” revolves around Adnan (), who has been dealt an unlucky hand in life. His father (), for one, despises him. He arbitrarily writes Adnan off his will, disinheriting Adnan of the family apple orchard. Adnan's brother-in-law, Hanif (), similarly resents him. Hanif disapproves of Adnan's wasted drunken days in the orchard he will not own, tending to unprofitable trees instead of his wife and child. Most of all, Adnan seems to dislike himself. With each sip, he laments over the life he could have lived — one with the apple orchard, a medical degree from Russia, and a healthy family life — if he could have just lived beyond the cursed borderlands of Golan Heights. Adnan's luck only seems to turn when he stumbles across a wounded Syrian soldier escaping from Israeli authorities. Adnan takes this as a sign that he should house, and perhaps even operate upon, the titular stranger. Things seem to turn upwards — until Adnan realizes, once again, that some matters exceed his own hands. 

As the first installment of Eldin's longer “Home” trilogy, “The Stranger” stands as an on-the-nose metaphor for the Palestinian situation. Instead of attending to the usual aAbsurdism of filmmakers like or Rashid Masharawi, however, Eldin resorts to a nihilistic approach instead. In this war-stricken purgatory, any hope for change is futile. Despite Adnan's various efforts to better his current living situation — whether that be through a medical degree, the apple orchard, raising a child, or even taking care of a stranger — the bittersweet results are the same. Distant explosions still light up the night sky, and the residents cannot move either here nor there. In the confined borders of Golan Heights, there is only the damned present to be had. 

Niklas Landschau reflects the molasses-like tempo of Adnan's doldrums through extremely restrained camerawork. Though Landschau's camera situates itself before objects in extreme close-up, it retains a distance between itself and its human subjects. As such, “The Stranger” witnesses the banal play out in real-time and without emphatic emotion. We can watch the ink dissolve, for example, as Adnan's name blotted out of his father's will. At the same time, we cannot dare to get close to a younger Adnan's reaction to the whole situation. The slight changes of the everyday hold monumental consequence, with no regard for the feelings of those involved. 

Frequent extreme long shots of the landscape further distance the viewer from Adnan's frustrating predicament. Unlike the joyful chaos of the city in  “A Gaza Weekend” (2022) or the rolling, olive tree-lined hills of “It Must Be Heaven” (2019), however, Eldin underscores the unremarkable nature of the Syrian territory. In his washed out visions of the wintry Levant, Eldin minimizes Adnan's – and in due turn, Ashraf Barhom's – unbridled performance. Like the unrecognized state of Palestine, a single actor alone cannot break out of the curse of a warzone in limbo.

All in all, “The Stranger” takes a while to steep. Landschau's stoic camerawork forces its viewer to face the hopelessness of the everyday, with little regard for the people living in it. Eldin's preference for ungraceful views and muggy smoke shrouding the idyllic apple orchard only further distance the viewer. The film, as such, demands a lot of active patience from its viewer. “The Stranger” definitely is not a crowdpleaser, but it is most certainly a sober meditation on the current situation in Golan Heights. 

About the author

Grace Han

In a wave of movie-like serendipity revolving around movies, I transitioned from studying early Italian Renaissance frescoes to contemporary cinema. I prefer to cover animated film, Korean film, and first features (especially women directors). Hit me up with your best movie recs on Twitter @gracehahahan !

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