Search - Chronicle of a Disappearance on DVD

A good movie

Ramzey | Richardson, TX USA | 01/03/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The movie is a combination of scenes reflecting the living of Palestinians of al-Nasera (Nazareth) and al-Quds (Jerusalem). It does not tell a story. And you wont see Israeli tanks in the streets, Palestinians throwing stones, or violent actions. On the contrary, the movie starts with a very slow view of an old man setting in the dark with his head resting on his arm, breathing heavily.
The movie is not straightforward. It won't raise your adrenaline. But it will capture your soul several times with nice scenes from the Holy Land or with sad but ironic conversations between ordinary people. There are comic and tragic moments in the movie, which is accompanied by nice music.
One setback, the ever-changing scenes of the movie do not allow you to build a strong relation with any of the characters.
It is a nice movie overall. I enjoyed watching it."

An interesting look at the Palestinian middle class

Larry Mark | nyc | 06/05/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Elia Suleiman, an Israeli-born Palestinian in his 30's, plays himself as a filmmaker who returns to Jerusalem and Nazareth from NYC and takes a humorous look at the Palestinian middle class, who he feels have lost their identity. It is a collection of comic and serious vignettes (kind of like "Stranger Than a Paradise" without the Screaming Jay Hawkins soundtrack) looking at things like a woman's search for an apartment in East and then in West Jerusalem (Jews won't rent to her), French journalists at a hotel bar, vacationers fishing on the Kineret/Galilee, Palestinian souvenir retailers "creating" holy water for sale to Japanese tourists, a postcard rack revolving in the silent wind of Nazareth, Suleiman's actual parents at leisure, and his parents asleep late at night in front of their living room television as it signs off for the evening, playing Hatikva and broadcasting the Israeli flag flying in the wind. The second part of this film is a political statement, in which the female lead, Adan, attempts to confuse the Israeli police, and in an apparent homage to the Israeli song "Moshiach Lo Ba, Moshiach Gam Lo M'Talfon", she tells the police via their walkie talkies that "Oslo is not coming, Oslo's not even gonna' telephone.""

The Victim's disappearance

Rockslinga | Austin, TX | 02/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A film which dares to show Palestinians as real human beings and not victims. The film, though lacking a cohesive, traditional narrative structure, provides an amazing experience. The film has many central points of location, but mostly, this center is the psyche of the exile, which has never before been examined in this way. True cinematic poetry."