The Time That Remains (2009)

Directed by: Elia Suleiman | 109 minutes | drama | Actors: Ali Suliman, Elia Suleiman, Saleh Bakri, Nati Ravitz, Amer Hlehel, Avi Kleinberger, Doraid Liddawi, Ehab Assal, Menashe Noy, Lotuf Neusser, Zuhair Abu Hanna, Yaniv Biton, Samar Tanus, Ayman Espanioli, Leila Muammar, Alon Leshem Baher Agbariya, George Khleifi, Alex Bakri, Yasmine Haj, Lior Shemesh, Shafika Bajjali, Ziyad Bakri, Nina Jarjoura, Isabelle Ramadan, Daniel Bronfman, Tareq Qobti

In the opening footage, a taxi driver departs with a passenger from an airport. The destination is unclear. It is somewhere in Israel, on the way the weather changes and a heavy thunderstorm breaks out. The passenger’s mood is melancholy philosophical and he speaks of himself as a ‘present and absent’. The passenger looks back on his life. In five chapters a story is told from the period 1948 to the present.

‘The Time That Remains’ is a semi-autobiographical account of director Elia Suleiman’s Israeli-Arab family. 1948, the Israelis conquer Nazareth, they are better armed and militarily better organized. The local Arab resistance must capitulate unconditionally. There is a conflict in the family relations: Fuad Suleiman (Saleh Bakri) believes in resistance. He is arrested, severely beaten and initially appears to have died. Part of the family flees to neighboring countries, the rest stays behind and adapts to the new circumstances, the Israelis are in power. In later parts we see the influence of the changed political relations and the aura of fierce Israeli nationalism. Elijah (Zuhair Abu Hanna) and Fuad’s younger son are rebellious and punished for calling the United States colonialists at school. Fuad himself seems to have adapted reasonably well to the new relationships, he continues to live as an anonymous citizen under the Israeli occupation as best he can. Later we see Elijah getting into trouble, he is forced to leave the country within 24 hours by order of the Israeli rulers. In a later period of the story we see Elijah himself returning as an adult and he takes care of his old mother (Samar Qudha Tanus). This part in particular gives the film an extra load in terms of drama.

Director Elia Suleiman based the first parts on his father’s diaries, further supplemented with his own memories. Unlike other films about the Israeli-Arab conflict, violence is hardly present in the film, the emphasis is much more on the consequences for daily life and the political relations between Israelis of Jewish descent and the Arab/Palestinian population. Although the Israeli Arabs are equal to the Jewish Israelis in law, in many ways they appear to be subordinate in daily practice. The emotional impact of the story remains somewhat remote. The acting is a bit solemn at times and the story sometimes has some emphatic symbolism. Special is the intention to repeat various scenes several times with the same people in a completely different time period.

The chosen set-up makes the film more of a collection of family events, viewed entirely through Arab eyes. With relatively little dialogue and due to its style, it is more of a dry-comedy to black comedy with slightly absurdist tendencies than a grand and heavy social drama. Especially visually, everything is excellent, the landscapes are beautiful, the camera work is excellent. A striking representation of the almost completely separate worlds of these population groups.