Najwa Najjar’s “Eyes of A Thief” Captures The Hearts of Audiences With A Political Film Exploring Themes of Forgiveness And Love
Renowned Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar is back yet again with another touching and compelling plot in the film, “Eyes of A Thief”. The filmmaker was under much pressure to make a politically inclined film as tensions between the Israeli and Palestinian governments grew. Her acclaimed film “Pomegranates and Myrrh” tried to stray from the traditional politically intertwined conversation present in most recent Arab cinematography. In this film she makes compelling statements about loss, imprisonment, forgiveness, love, and hope. It stands to be a micro portrait of how people can live under oppression and fear, and remain hopeful and dignified.
The plot of the film “Eyes of A Thief” is loosely based on a true story that occurred in Palestine in 2002, in a valley known as Wadi Al- Haramiya. Wadi Al- Haramiya, or ‘valley of thieves’, is located on the West Bank between Ramallah and Nablus. A sniper had positioned himself behind olive trees on a hill top and shot at IDF checkpoint security as well as three civilians who were passing through the checkpoint. The sniper was later identified as twenty-two year old Tha’ir Hammad, who was officially responsible for the deaths of seven soldiers and three civilians. He was sentenced to serve eleven life sentences. Najjar wanted to explore the themes that played out in this tragic event in her film and she succeeds in creating a compelling plot that opens up the conversation about topics not easily explored in Arab cinematography.
The film introduces us to a water engineer named Tareq, who has been jailed for ten years for shooting ten Israeli soldiers. He returns to his family home in the west Bank and immediately goes on to search for his wife and daughter whom he had left behind. He learns that his wife has been killed, and his daughter was sent to an orphanage. The news brings about isolation and deep responsibility for the events that unfolded in his family’s life. He finds that the only way to overcome the sadness is to bury himself in work. Tareq befriends a businessman named Adel and starts working as a builder. Leila, who is a local seamstress, becomes a love interest of Tareq’s. Before Tareq could pursue the relationship, Tareq started to inquire about the little girl, Malak, who Leila was looking after. This interest is heightened when he finds out that Malak is the same age that his missing daughter would have been. The two grow closer as Tareq tries to guide Malak in the right path and acts as her father figure as she is a known rebel with a fighting spirit. Their bond continues to get stronger and Najjar cleverly keeps us on our feet with the inevitability that the two characters could indeed be father and daughter.
The film portrays how despite the occupation poses a constant antithesis to the Palestinian identity, the characters were surrounded with more hopeful themes of love and humanity. The characters find joy in the blissful rekindling of a relationship and together find forgiveness to be the glue that holds their lives together. In some ways this film is focused on exposing the harsh reality that living under an occupation entails; however Najjar is more intrigued in spreading the message that forgiveness is essential to the lives of the Palestinians. Without forgiveness and this false sense of utopianism, what would become of Tareq? This the question that drives this film to success.