Director Ameen Nayfeh’s concept for his Palestinian film 200 Meters came from the personal experiences of his own friends and family. “You fight your way to small victories in order to achieve simple, basic tasks,” he said in a conversation with BFI about their lives under Israeli occupation. When the wall went up, daily, basic tasks for Palestinians became that much harder. And Mustafa’s story (portrayed by Ali Suliman) was born out of these true experiences. Part political drama and part road trip thriller, 200 Meters is at its core a very human story of a father who will do anything to overcome forced separation and be with his family.
Mustafa (Suliman) lives only 200 meters away from his wife Salwa (Lana Zreik) and their children, but they are separated by the Israeli border wall. In standing up against unjust laws, Mustafa refuses to get an Israeli ID. This comes back to bite him, however, when his permit to work in Israel expires and he can’t get back to his family to see his son, who’s been hospitalized. Now, what would have been a 200-meter walk becomes a miles-long road trip, as Mustafa will do whatever he can to see his family again, endangering himself in an illegal attempt to get across the border.
Mustafa’s love for his family is apparent long before he’s pressed to demonstrate it in this way. His relationship with his wife may be strained by their occasional separation, but even when he’s not with his family physically, he strives to be there in spirit. Every night he spends 200 meters away from them, he flickers the porch light to signal good night, and in this small way, bridges that emotional distance. It’s unsurprising, then, when he doesn’t hesitate to seek risky methods to reunite with them after his work permit expires. Upon finding smugglers to help him get across the border, an unlikely traveling party forms, including German filmmaker Anne (Anna Unterberger) and Kifah (Motaz Malhees), her Palestinian documentary subject.
Anne is an especially interesting addition to the cast of characters, there as a vehicle to provide context to outsider viewers but also to lend another dimension to the smuggling story, creating more tension and distrust among the travelers. She has an outsider’s eye that pries coldly into a strained situation. And despite her kind intentions, she can only see Mustafa’s and others’ predicaments from a measured distance, just as any Westerners watching.
Nayfeh closes that distance as much as possible, exposing viewers (and Anne) to the brutality of the occupation. The documentary filmmaker experiences a particularly shocking moment when an Israeli soldier assumes she could only be traveling with Palestinians because she enjoys sexual violence. Ameen Nayfeh destroys the credibility of that racist assumption throughout the film, portraying any violence that does exist among Palestinians as a direct result of oppression, and indicting Israeli soldiers for passing judgment on Palestinians for a cycle they themselves are directly feeding into.
All this is a tragic and infuriating backdrop to the core story about the love and resilience of a father who will do anything to be with his hospitalized son. Mustafa's journey in an unoccupied country would only have involved a simple drive–and, in a perfect world, would never have needed to be told. As it is, however, Ameen Nayfeh’s 200 Meters is a necessary, uncontrived, and moving Palestinian film drama. Highly recommended.
What public library shelves would this title be on?
Ameen Nayfeh’s 200 Meters belongs on public library shelves for dramas, independent films, and world cinema.
What type of college/university professors would find this title valuable?
Professors of political science could make great use of 200 Meters in showing the effects of the Israeli occupation in Palestine on individuals. The Palestinian film would also be useful for professors of world cinema in spotlighting films from marginalized groups.
Does this film have Public Performance Rights available?
This Palestinian film drama does indeed have public performance rights available. You can purchase the DVD with PPR on Film Movement’s website.