What does Netflix's Nakba film Farha tell us about the state of Hollywood today?

There’s something incredible about the impact television and film can have on our society and how the entertainment industry helps us see the world.

Foreign cultures become familiarised, while marginalised communities are given platforms to shine, and liberation movements thrive through screens inside millions of homes all over the world. 

When Darin J. Sallam’s Farha went on the international film festival circuit to high acclaim, the praise lead to its acquisition by Netflix, as well as becoming Jordan’s selection to represent the country in the 2023 Oscar race for the best international feature.

Now, the film is readily available for millions to see, and for the first time, it gives viewers an on-the-ground perspective of what it was like for over 700,000 Palestinians in 1948.

The low-budget historical drama is set in an unnamed village in Palestine at the start of the Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe), where Israeli soldiers forced thousands of Palestinian civilians out of their homes and villages, killing many in their path.

"I have a feeling that this will not be the last time we see Palestinian stories being told to us on such massive scales, nor will it be the last time that we see a historical film or show depicting the events of the Nakba"

The film is based on a true story, following a girl named Farha as her village is overrun by Israeli forces. When they arrive at her doorstep, her father forces Farha to hide in the family’s pantry, where she can hear the chaos of events unfold around her, and she lays witness to her community being killed.

Yes, it is a harrowing film about the Palestinian struggle and survival – but it is a long overdue one.

In all of Hollywood’s 100-year existence, Arabs and Middle Eastern communities have been on the short end of the stick. We have been vilified from the very beginning, and it’s not until recently that portrayals of Arab, and Muslim characters have been nuanced and kind.

So, the greatness of this moment for the Palestinian movement cannot be overstated, because of how incredibly hard it is – especially for Palestinians – to be given a space and a platform to merely express who they are, let alone tell the story of the Nakba on such a scale.

"The story of what happened to Palestinians during the Nakba is not political – it is simply history"

In an interview with Time, Sallam shared how difficult it was to make a film like this in the first place. Oftentimes, the subject of Palestine is too taboo, or “political,” for people to take on. But the story of what happened to Palestinians during the Nakba is not political – it is simply history.

Every Palestinian family has a Nakba story. The Institute for Palestine Studies has an incredible selection of personal narratives and eyewitness accounts of these tragic events. And authors like Rashid Khalidi and Ilan Pappe have painstakingly documented the events of Palestine in their books, The Hundred Years’ War On Palestine, and The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, respectively.

So, it’s actually kind of hysterical when Israeli government officials try so hard to claim that Farha is painting a false narrative.

Israel’s Culture Minister, Chili Tropper, accused the film of “false plots against IDF soldiers,” and outgoing Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is a member of the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, said on Twitter, “It’s crazy that Netflix decided to stream a movie whose whole purpose is to create a false pretence.”

Do you know what’s crazy? Government bodies trying to rewrite history in a clumsy attempt to make themselves look like the good guys.

The Nakba is a very real, horrific event where countless civilians were massacred by Israeli soldiers. Men, women, and children were slaughtered. Entire villages were wiped off the map.

"Do you know what’s crazy? Government bodies trying to rewrite history in a clumsy attempt to make themselves look like the good guys"

These events live on today, in survivors still alive to tell the tale, and their children, who share those stories the same way Sallam heard the story of the woman who inspired Farha. It’s futile to try and argue with what millions of Palestinians know to be true. 

These politicians are afraid because the truth will always be the enemy of Israel. For decades, they relied on the extinguishing of truth to hide their sordid past.

But with the advent of the internet, and viral videos of American-Jewish settlers attempting to steal homes, their ability to hide the truth gets weaker and weaker, which is why they’re terrified of Farha being so widely available, and even potentially becoming an Oscar nominee.

In the same way, television helped fuel the Civil Rights movement in the 60s, the way it helped normalise the idea of gay marriage and the acceptance of queer people in the 90s, on-screen stories like Farha are now contributing to the liberation and understanding of the Palestinian people today.

So, of course, Israeli government officials will climb atop their soap boxes and tell you what’s happening in the film isn’t real. They’ll do anything to tell you that these stories are false, and that IDF soldiers are not what they seem. 

But IDF soldiers continue to do what they’ve been doing since 1948.

A single day after the release of Farha on Netflix, a Palestinian civilian was shot and killed at point-blank range by a soldier; Israel refuses to cooperate with the FBI investigation over the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was murdered by an IDF soldier; and children are taken from their homes by IDF soldiers and illegally detained and abused, with no rights to civil trials.

The only difference between the IDF soldiers of 1948 and those today is that cameras can catch them now. 

But stories like this are emotionally taxing to keep hearing, and people might find themselves swiping past the distressing headlines, desensitised to the horror.

"The only difference between the IDF soldiers of 1948 and those today is that cameras can catch them now"

This is, no doubt, what Israel is reliant upon. That you get sick of hearing the depressing news, and you’d rather skip past a headline you’re so familiar with, than interact and contribute to resources to make those headlines stop.

This is why Palestinians must find ways to hold onto your attention, and we can do that by using television and film to engage our allies and keep the conversation going. 

Luckily for us, Palestinian storytelling has had one hell of a year. First, Netflix released a series called Mo, centred around a Palestinian-American refugee and his search for asylum in Texas, and then Ramy’s third season took audiences into Jerusalem, where the Golden-Globe winning series was the first American streamer to depict what life was like for Palestinians living under Israeli military rule. And now, Farha. 

Audiences today are eager to learn more about the marginalised groups that have been left out of Hollywood’s whitewashed past, and Netflix’s determination to premiere Farha despite the “backlash” from Israeli officials is proof of that.

I have a feeling that this will not be the last time we see Palestinian stories being told to us on such massive scales, nor will it be the last time that we see a historical film or show depicting the events of the Nakba.

Shortly after those events in 1948, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, is known to have said, “the old will die and the young will forget.” With millions of Palestinians in the diaspora, countless Nakba stories and survivors, and studios now willing to take on our tales, I am ecstatic to say that even when the old has died, the world will never forget. The stories will keep coming.

Tariq Raouf is a Palestinian-American Muslim writer, based in Seattle. 

Follow them on Twitter: @tariq_raouf