In 1936, Palestinian revolt against British colonial rule exploded, with almost all economic classes mobilizing. Caught by surprise, the British government declared martial law and sent twenty thousand troops to Palestine. Thousands of Palestinians were killed, wounded and imprisoned.
The film Palestine 36, written and directed by Annemarie Jacir, is centered in the village of Al Basma, where farmers are being pushed off their land to make way for Jewish settlers who are fleeing the rise of Naziism. On September 7, 1938, British troops massacred dozens of these farmers and their families and set fire to their homes and other buildings.
These events are seen from the point-of-view of a variety of characters, both Palestinian and British.
12-year-old Afra (Wardi Eilabouni) lives with her widowed mother, Rabab (Yafa Bakri). Their neighbor, Yusuf (Karim Daoud Anaya), is an assistant to wealthy Amir (Dhafer L’Abidine), who believes that the British are good for business. .Amir’s wife, Khuloud (Yasmine Al Massri) is a journalist who writes against the British occupation. To do so, she has to use a male pseudonym. Yusuf endures condescending treatment from the British soldiers because he earns a good living. But after the British military arrives in large numbers. Yusuf’s father is murdered by Jewish settlers, and the British arrest Yuduf’s younger brother for no reason.
Khalid (Saleh Bakri) opposes the growing general strike until, when he asks for the overtime pay he is owed, he is beaten. He transforms into a rebel leader.
Thomas Hopkins (Billy Howle) is the private secretary to British High Commissioner Arthur Wauchope (Jeremy Irons).
Captain Orde Wingate (Robert Aramayo) is a full-out villain who believes he has the right to bully, torture, displace and kill Palestinians.
Liam Cunningham in 2025 took part in a flotilla that tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. In Palestine 36, he plays Charles Tegart, an arrogant counterinsurgency expert whose pontifications outrage Thomas Hopkins and force him to question why he is helping his government engage in unjust and violent acts.
Wingate and Tegart are based on real historical figures.
Like the Jordanian film All That’s Left of You, Palestine 1936 is a reminder that when soldiers and government officials humiliate people and treat them violently, the resentment can continue for multiple generations. Apparently, many Israelis and other Jews have not learned this lesson, despite the fact that Jews, after World War II, did not overcome their suspicions or hostility towards Germans for several generations. They seem unaware that by carpet bombing Gaza and killing tens of thousands of non-Hamas Gazans, and causing the deaths of civilians in Lebanon and Iran, they are making it worse for Israeli Jews for generations to come.
This is the fourth time one of Annemarie Jacir’s films has been the Palestinian entry in the Academy Awards. Her previously entered films are Salt of the Sea (2008), When I Saw You (2022), and the charming Wajib (2017).
