Mahdi Fleifel's documentary is a fascinating piece that works on two levels. At one level it looks at the plight of the Palestinian refugees who have spent decades in a camp in Lebanon; unable to return to their own country and deprived of the right to work in their adopted nation, they lead a kind of half-life. The camp is a dense network of narrow roads and alleyways, stuffed full of shops, cafés and meeting-places, where families of different generations congregate. Fleifel's film is set round the World Cup of 2010, where different members of the Palestinian community support different teams - Germany, Italy, Brazil. The tournament provides the context for drawing people together both to enjoy the soccer as well as their own company. But this event provides only a temporary respite for many refugees, who spend their days doing nothing except driving round the camp, defending it from Israelis and brandishing weapons. At another level Fleifel explores his own feelings; as a Palestinian born in Dubai, he might have considered himself an expat, but having spent time living in the camp, he understood precisely how everyone felt. However his family decided to move away from the camp and settle in Denmark, giving Fleifel a European passport so that he could readily escape from the camp whenever he chose. He returns regularly to the camp, but always considers himself an outsider, despite the fact that many of his close friends still live there. A heartfelt, passionate analysis of life on the margins, A WORLD NOT OURS not only explores feelings of alienation, shared by Fleifel and the camp residents alike, but shows how many Palestinians have become so disillusioned that they don't even support their nation any more in its struggle against Israel. They think of themselves as the forgotten people, left to rot in an alien nation with few rights to improve their lives.
Review of A World Not Ours
