Khleifi's previous film, Wedding in Galilee , was an essentially fictional tale of a Palestinian wedding overseen by Israeli authorities. But approximately 60 percent of Canticle , which was shot last year in Jerusalem and Gaza, is made up of documentary footage of Israeli oppression of Palestinians. A father calmly recalls the murder of his young son by an Israeli soldier.
Children play vacant-lot games with marbles made of plastic bullets.
A woman weeps as her home is bulldozed into ruins by the Israelis. Woven into these shocking scenes is a love story so stilted that it seems designed to prove that truth is more interesting than fiction. The hero is a would-be novelist, imprisoned for many years for political activities. His one-time lover has returned to Jerusalem from the United States, and their reunion is supposed to rekindle their personal and political passions. Alas, the lovers' strongest emotions are tied up with fancy speechifying.