Film: Palestine 36

Tonight, I was supposed to be on another Meetup, back with The Hideout for Keeper, directed by Osgood Perkins - details TBA, but it was to be somewhere around Leicester Square. Except then the organiser cancelled due to personal issues.. tarnation! 

So I said I'd still go to a film.. the one I was planning to go to this coming Monday. What came up was Palestine 36, a recreation of the events of 1936 in that part of the world, with Palestinian villages revolting against British colonial rule - all while the British are planning their typical pursuit of redrawing maps. They also face the problem of increased Jewish immigration to the region. Jeremy Irons plays the British High Commissioner, Liam Cunningham is Tegart, the counter-terrorism expert brought in to deal with the Arab revolt. Now, when I looked up where was showing it, Flicks informed me that the closest location to me was somewhere called Curzon Sea Containers.. I'd never heard of it, but it transpires that there's a Sea Containers hotel, with a Curzon as part of it! The cinema only seems to be open Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays. Well done Flicks! Anyway, I booked that.

It's not that far from me - a bit far to walk, but bus should be ok - one in particular goes very close! Except, of course, for the typical unreliability of buses.. it was 15 minutes later than advertised on Google Maps, and when it finally came, it was only going to Southwark Bridge - not what was advertised at all - on Google Maps, or on the departures board! The driver kept saying to anyone going further to take the next bus - yeah, the next one was half an hour away! So I took this one, and walked the difference - another 15 minutes lost.

And then Google Maps kept misdirecting me, showing me in the wrong place .. Not to mention, when I did get there, I didn't realise - there's almost no signage! (Pictures taken on my way out - I was in too much of a hurry on the way in.) So, this is the hotel entrance:

It's all very well being a boutique hotel, but could they not give a nod to practicality?! I finally figured out where the entrance was, but inside, I couldn't find the cinema:

There is a signpost, but it isn't terribly informative:

What is it with these places?! I had to ask a staff member in order to find out it was on Level -1 - now by this stage, I'd figured out where the lifts were, so that was ok. Downstairs, there was a guy on reception - happily, because there was no cinema sign down there either, and equally happily, he just believed me when I said I had a ticket, and steered me to the screen. It was only on the way out that I noticed the nice seating area and bar..

Inside, I took a seat that might have been mine - I didn't bother to check, it was almost empty anyway. On screen, a young Palestinian from the villages was showing up for work at a posh Arab house in Jerusalem - I don't think I missed much.

Now. When I said I was going to this, I had a couple of people accuse it of being (at least potentially) propagandist nonsense - so I was on high alert. Which is fair enough - it's a highly political film anyway. We see the Arabs in their village, we see them lead a quiet life, and we see the Jews arrive - brief snapshots show them fleeing an increasingly antisemitic Europe. However, they weren't in charge - it was the British, as evidenced early in the film, where the High Commissioner is addressing a crowd from a stage adorned with Union Jack bunting. Things is, they were bound by the Balfour declaration of 1917, which guaranteed their support for an Israeli state in Palestine..

It does occur to me, so many years later, and having seen the British government (along with so many others) renege on agreements, that they really didn't have to stick to this if they didn't want to. But they did - which meant the Jewish settlers had British army support as they set up their encampments, fenced off hitherto-Arab land, and erected watchtowers - and we're not long into the film before one settlement, clearing their land, sets a fire that encroaches on nearby Arab farms, and an Arab farmer, running to save his trees, is shot dead by settlers. Now, that's highly believable, considering what happened in later years.. but anyway, this is the last we hear of Israeli aggression in this film.

Because, from now on, the British are the aggressors - a role we're quite familiar with seeing them in. We've seen what happens when you forcibly inject immigrants into communities that don't want them. Land was confiscated by the government, given to the Israeli settlers. The Arabs declared a general strike. To be fair, obviously there was violence against the Israelis - this isn't shown. But it is a work of fiction, and must necessarily stick to a particular narrative.

Having said that, what they do show isn't fiction at all.. the British forces on the ground are led by Villain #1, Captain Wingate, a real-life character who was later killed in a plane crash in 1944. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, who as commander of Northern Palestine had authorized the SNS (formed by Wingate), said in 1966 that he considered Wingate to have "been mentally unbalanced and that the best thing he ever did was to get killed in a plane crash in 1944". And the decimation of the village in the film, which was burnt to the ground, and a busload of men from there forced to drive over a landmine to blow it up.. well, that was based on a real-life massacre by the British army.

Now, being Irish, this guerrilla warfare came as no surprise to me - that's how Ireland got its independence. Sadistic British tactics were, similarly, no surprise. In fact, Tegart, played by an Irishman, utters the phrase that they don't "want another Ireland".. well, they got worse in the end, eh? So in the end, this film concentrates primarily on Britain's relationship with the Palestinians, and the legacy of British rule. Probably safer than attacking Israel, would be my bet.. but apart from this narrowing of focus, I couldn't find anything significantly inaccurate in the telling of the film. Certainly, it's an interesting snapshot of a little-spoken of (in our part of the world) part of history.

As a curious end note - the end credits roll in silence for a while, until accompanied by a lone man on the bagpipes. A curious choice.. again, Britain-centric? Again, what else could they have chosen..?

The hotel restaurant seemed a bit gourmet for my liking, so I booked in The Archduke afterwards. From that point of view, again, it's a pity the Leicester Square event was cancelled - I had a voucher for Bella Italia, which I could have used there, and which will now expire unused.. ironically, considering the Cranbourn Street branch is actually my favourite restaurant. But I was very well fed - indeed, they offered me a table in the lobby, which was ideal - close to the loo, which I needed, and a bit insulated from the very loud live music! And I indulged in a bottle of dessert wine - felt I needed it, after that harrowing experience..

Tomorrow is another ex-colleagues meeting - or probably just another meeting with James! We haven't seen Ivan since June, and Martin since last Christmas.. Probably in The Phoenix again.

On Sunday, back with Mandy and London Herstory Walks (LHW) for Rebel Women of the South Bank.

On Monday, still going to a film - now it's Train Dreams, what looks like a beautiful film about a logger and railroad worker in the United States in the early 20th century. And this one is in the more familiar surrounds of the Curzon Bloomsbury, phew.

On Tuesday, heading with Paul and Tim's Greater London Talks and Walks, for Tim's Walk: London by Gaslight. Meeting in the Pret near Green Park Station.

On Wednesday, back with storytelling in Folklore! This time it's Nell Phoenix for the Crick Crack Club, performing The Girl Who Married a Dog, tickets with Dice as usual. Eating at The Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand - and wow, it's a couple of months since I was last up that way!

On Thursday, back with Mandy and her new Meetup group (ahem) Rat-Arsed Tours! This is her Knightsbridge & Belgravia Crimbo Walk - and gee, she has a lot to live up to after the last one of these! Also advertised with LHW. Meeting in The Plumbers Arms. And just like last time, I'll be getting a workout with my laptop on my back..

And next Friday, I've lucked out getting cheap tickets with CT to a concert of Spanish classical guitar music at Pixaudio! Regular tickets with Eventbrite. Ah, I adore this music.. eating in The North Pole beforehand.