Political Themes in Salt of This Seas
Jack Smith
POSC 122
Paper #1
11/18/12
Annemarie Jacir’s drama Salt of this Sea is an artistically made film that highlights the ordinary life of a Palestinian. Salt of this Sea focuses on a Palestinian-American from Brooklyn, Soraya, who travels to the West Bank and Israel to rediscover her roots as well as retrieve the savings from her recently deceased grandfather. However, Soraya soon finds out that her grandfather’s bank account had been lost during the 1948 war. This is just one of the many instances in which she faces the reality of the hardships of Palestinian life. While visiting, Soraya befriends two Palestinian men, Emad and Marwan. Throughout the film, these three characters and their situations exemplified the physical barriers in which the two men are trapped, and the humiliation that comes with the strict authoritative control they face while moving about the country. This film embodies the psychological pain felt by the Palestinians all over the world by showing how a Palestinian-American young lady in quest of her roots in a country she had never seen before can in fact harbor feelings of longing and belonging. I believe that Jacir’s film Salt of this Sea encompasses two overriding political themes. The first theme I will argue is the theme of liberation for both the Palestinian people and their land currently under Israeli occupation – the right of return. Secondly, I will point out the constant theme of the condemnation of the Palestinian Authority, its failings, and the Ramallah elite. The rest of this paper is divided into sections providing examples of Jacir’s overt affirmation in support of the liberation of Palestine, the inherent right of return, the social constraints in regards to class, and the lack of constructive authority of the Palestinian Officials and Bureaucrats. The movie begins with a real life news clip depicting a particular scene from the actual Palestinian Diaspora during the creation of the State of Israel (the
POSC 122
Paper #1
11/18/12
Annemarie Jacir’s drama Salt of this Sea is an artistically made film that highlights the ordinary life of a Palestinian. Salt of this Sea focuses on a Palestinian-American from Brooklyn, Soraya, who travels to the West Bank and Israel to rediscover her roots as well as retrieve the savings from her recently deceased grandfather. However, Soraya soon finds out that her grandfather’s bank account had been lost during the 1948 war. This is just one of the many instances in which she faces the reality of the hardships of Palestinian life. While visiting, Soraya befriends two Palestinian men, Emad and Marwan. Throughout the film, these three characters and their situations exemplified the physical barriers in which the two men are trapped, and the humiliation that comes with the strict authoritative control they face while moving about the country. This film embodies the psychological pain felt by the Palestinians all over the world by showing how a Palestinian-American young lady in quest of her roots in a country she had never seen before can in fact harbor feelings of longing and belonging. I believe that Jacir’s film Salt of this Sea encompasses two overriding political themes. The first theme I will argue is the theme of liberation for both the Palestinian people and their land currently under Israeli occupation – the right of return. Secondly, I will point out the constant theme of the condemnation of the Palestinian Authority, its failings, and the Ramallah elite. The rest of this paper is divided into sections providing examples of Jacir’s overt affirmation in support of the liberation of Palestine, the inherent right of return, the social constraints in regards to class, and the lack of constructive authority of the Palestinian Officials and Bureaucrats. The movie begins with a real life news clip depicting a particular scene from the actual Palestinian Diaspora during the creation of the State of Israel (the