Chronicles from the Siege

When their city comes under siege, the lives of a handful of ordinary people are turned upside down, forcing each of them to face impossible choices as they try to survive in a war zone. Bodies and minds are attacked alike; and the besieged protagonists are forced to cope with hunger, inadequate medical care, snipers, and bomb explosions, all while continuing to live, seeking friendship, love, intimacy, and the pleasure of a cigarette. At one point, a small group of film buffs holed up in their neighborhood video store are faced with the dilemma of whether to burn the movies they have rented and cherished in order to keep warm. The mental impact of the siege is brazenly expressed in a door sign belonging to one of the characters in the ensemble, which reads: “I don’t see my life beyond the borders of the siege. And I don’t see the end of the siege beyond the borders of my life.”

Abdallah Al-Khatib, a Palestinian director living in Germany, gave the most audacious political speech at this year’s Berlinale, receiving his best first feature award at the festival whose leadership has tried hard to remain outside politics, untainted by the blood of genocide, the repercussions of censorship and various possible restrictions (which in Central Europe still mostly come down to a hit to the pocket and career advancement). Al‑Khatib’s anthology is made up of five chapters, each narrating a distinct human experience under siege. The chapters differ in mood and tone, starting with a psychological drama on collapse, and questioning the concept of heritage and its importance when the present and future seem like mere illusions. This is followed by an exploration of pleasure and enjoyment in what could be the last pleasure in life, through two stories: one extremely cruel, and the other bordering on comedy, given the contrast between the situation (a young man and a woman who want sex) and the catastrophic circumstances that surround them. The film culminates in the final chapter, in which the destinies of the characters come together in a tense situation in a makeshift hospital, where staff struggle to provide minimal medical services to an endless stream of patients.

Each of the characters fights a personal but common battle for survival, refusing to acknowledge its futility or consider it predetermined, for the victory of any siege lies in its ability to convince its victims that their future is beyond their reach and that their lives will end here and now. In a besieged city, humanity must be found to counter the dehumanized order and collective apathy, and this applies equally to us who (on this occasion) find ourselves outside its walls.