“Prescient” is perhaps the most appropriate word to describe “ Palestine 36 .” As the whole world focuses on Gaza, a film about the history of the conflict in the Middle East could not be more timely. However, Annemarie Jacir ’s epic film has many other strengths. It’s grand in scale, ambitious in storytelling and balanced in the way it pays equal attention to historical scope and detailed characterization. The film, which is Palestine’s entry to the Oscars, has a lot of story to tell, but still manages to singularly draw its many characters and to give specificity to its different locations. It demands the audience’s undivided attention and earns it by the end of its running time.

As the title implies, the film covers a little more than a year in Palestine, when it was a British colo

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