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Woman-Related Signs
The movie, The Chronicle of Disappearance contains several scenes that show signs related to women’s feminist discourse. Scene 2 is a symbolic sign where a woman is having a conversation with herself. This signifies that she has no one to talk to following her husband’s death. In her state of loneliness, she breaks into a dance, ostensibly to kill time. This movie showcases the cultural issues within Palestinian society and how it treats its widows. Additionally, it is also a criticism of women in Palestine are treated (Suleiman, 1996). The woman character is afraid to express herself and to share her opinion, even on such important issues as weddings that usually fall in women’s domains. The society depicted in the movie has no regard for widows. The woman’s happiness seemed to have died with her husband.
The fifth scene happens inside a coffee shop and showcases Russian women serving as waitresses. By working as a waitress, Suleiman gives an indexical illustration that a woman is a commodity who is best suited to serve others. Scene six, which takes place inside a car, is also indexical. In this scene, a man is enjoying passionate moments with a woman inside a car as a second man stands outside showing his mussels. All these happen against a background of a sexually captivating song. Here, women have been depicted as sexual objects who are there to fulfill the sexual fantasies of men. The seventh scene happens inside a restaurant and shows a painting of women behind the main characters. This is a symbolic illustration that women are accustomed to serving as decorative objectives. They are considered as aesthetic objects and commodities fit for attracting customers.
In the ninth scene, a woman is shown to be reading a newspaper. There is also a radio playing in the background that the woman listens to as she goes about her business in the kitchen. Although this scene still reinforces the idea that a woman belongs in the kitchen, it is an improvement to the previous scenes. The woman in this scene is an empowered one as compared to the earlier scenes. The fact that she is reading a newspaper shows that she is an educated woman and is interested in keeping abreast with the latest news and information about life in general. Listening to the radio and watching tv shows is a woman who is free to entertain herself.
The tenth scene is that of women taking part in a meeting. However, the discussions center around petty trivialities such as vegetable prices. Again, this symbolizes that left on their own, women are incapable of engaging in serious businesses other than matters of the kitchen. The fifteenth scene happens inside the kitchen and portrays a woman and a man washing fish in readiness for cooking. In this scene, the idea that the kitchen only belongs to the woman is being challenged. Both men and women can share roles including cooking together in the kitchen. The next scene takes place inside an office and depicts a man making advances to a woman. She brags about his position in the organization and lets the woman know that she is indebted to him (Baybars-Hawks, 2016). This shows that despite the fact that today’s woman is more emancipated and can now get education and employment, the old generation men still view them as sex objects who should satisfy their sexual desires.
The next scene happens inside a cinema hall, whose attendees also include women. There are graffiti communicating the active involvement of Palestinian women in the struggle for the emancipation of their country from Israeli occupation. Unlike before when the Palestinian woman was confined to the kitchen, today’s woman is more conscious about the struggles her country is facing against the enemy and is prepared to take part in liberation movements aimed at rescuing her country from illegal occupation.
Religion-Related Signs
The movie mirrors the real Palestine world that is home to iconic religious institutions. In scene four, viewers are treated to a holy land where Christians cherish. Biblically, there are several references to Palestine and Jerusalem as God’s holy land. The thirteenth scene introduces a Muslim by the name Allah Akbar, which signifies an Islamic identity. The next scene is an iconic o’clock in a church signifying Christian identity. The sixteenth scene introduces viewers to the sound of adan al fair, which is related to the Islamic faith (Mackintosh-Smith, 2019). There is also a picture of Jesus in the next scene, a further reaffirmation of the existence of the Christian faith in Palestine. Therefore, the film shows that Palestine is a country that embraces both the Muslim and Christian religions.
In the nineteenth scene, a priest delivers a sermon about the biblical story of Jesus walking on water. He goes ahead to observe that unlike before when only Jesus did miracles, today everyone makes miracles, thanks to globalization that has made the world a global village. It is not clear what the priest is driving at but there is an indication that he could be juxtaposing religious miracles against technology development and globalization. In scene 27, the Jews are trying to reinforce their identity by calling for the recognition and observance of the Sabbath Day, which is a Saturday (Armes, 2018). This is a Holy Day within the Jewish religion that is set aside for rest and worship. Therefore, the movie affirms the existence and practice of the Jewish religion in Palestine as well.
The existence of three main religious groups in Palestine, however, does not imply that there is no secular life. Scene 36 takes place inside a restaurant where revelers are partaking in different foods and drinks including alcohol. When the call for prayer is made, everyone seems to respect it (Limbrick, 2020). This is an illustration that both the Muslim and Christian religions in Palestine respect each other and live harmoniously side by side. When it comes to fighting against the Israeli occupation, both Muslims and Christians fight alongside each other.
Political Events-Related Signs
Right from the introduction, the movie is awash with political events through to the end. The movie is introduced by a rather sad song playing in the background. The images of a snoring person whose face and hands are wrinkled signify the Palestine homeland. Palestinians are worn out and living in constant fear in their homeland. The endless conflicts witnessed in the country leave ordinary citizens troubled, sick, and dejected. Tomorrow is not assured due to both external aggression from Israel and internal conflicts. In the scene where a woman is holding a conversation with herself, the political authority of fear is at play (Mahdi, 2020). By speaking to herself, there is an indication that the Palestine society is so dictatorial that ordinary citizens do not have the freedom of speech. She eloquently expresses herself through this monologue, which also gives viewers an idea of what goes on in Palestinian society.
The third scene is an iconic demonstration of a man playing backgammon on a computer as he smokes hookah. This is a rare scene that departs from the usual violence and sounds of guns and bullets. Here is a show of a different facet of life away from the resistance and liberation struggles that Palestinians are used to. The man represents the political class that is not directly involved in combat operations but rather enjoys life necessities. The next scene takes place inside a souvenir shop, and viewers see a shopkeeper handling a dollar with the images of a cross and the name of the holy place inscribed in it. This same shopkeeper is a freedom fighter when he is not at his shop. This is a demonstration that many Palestinians, irrespectively of their occupations, are involved in the freedom struggle one way or the other (Baer, 2018). The fact that a holy cross is inscribed in a dollar shows the religious inclinations of the country. Religion seems to be integrated into all facets of Palestinian lives including in commerce.
The shopkeeper and the dollar are also representations of the capitalist ideology of the country. Despite living in the holy land, the capitalist ideology demands that one must leverage the situation to make money. The following scene happens inside a coffee shop and involves some Russian women, a Hebrew man, and some Palestinians. Indeed, Palestine is a multi-ethnic society where people of different nationalities interact. Palestinians have no problem accommodating people from different nationalities in their midst as long as there is peace (El-Sherif, 2019). The sixth scene is a rather shocking one where a woman is almost raped inside a car by the driver as a muscular man watches for any intrusion. This is how Israel uses force to emasculate the defenseless Palestinians.
References
Armes, R. (2018). Roots of the new Arab film. Indiana University Press.
Baer, N. (2018). Cinema of the Palestinian Revolution: A conversation with Nadia Yaqub. Film Quarterly, 72(1), 91–97.
Baybars-Hawks, B. (2016). Framing violence: Conflicting images, identities, and discourses. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
El-Sherif, L. (2019). Greg Burris. The Palestinian idea: Film, media, and the radical imagination. University of Malta.
Limbrick, P. (2020). Arab modernism as world cinema: The films of Moumen Smihi. University of California Press.
Mackintosh-Smith, T. (2019). Arabs: A 3,000-year history of peoples, tribes and empires. Yale University Press.
Mahdi, W. F. (2020). Arab Americans in film: From Hollywood and Egyptian stereotypes to self-representation. Syracuse University Press.
Suleiman, E. (1996). Chronicle of a Disappearance [Film]. Dhat Productions.
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