Lena, the New Pro-Palestine and Anti-'Settler' Film

Alerted through Instagram, I discovered a new pro-Palestinian film.

Lena.*

Lena is an ewe.

Like the one:

The synopsis of this 'morality' tale:

In the mountain of Ramallah, eleven-year-old Adnan mourns the unjust arrest of his older brother Saif, who was illegally arrested on the fake accusation of throwing rocks at the Israeli army. Adnan spends weeks in solitude, unable to enjoy himself, but his spirits finally lift when given ownership of a newborn lamb born on his family’s farm, whom he decides to name Lena. Adnan and Lena become inseparable, spending every waking moment together, until Lena is stolen from him in the middle of the night by cruel Israeli settlers who wish to destroy his family's livelihood. 

Despite his father’s warnings, Adnan decides to sneak onto the settlement in hopes of getting his beloved Lena back and finds himself a witness to their savage way of life along the way. Representing Palestinian innocence, Adnan teaches us that Palestinian resistance will always defeat those who wish to destroy it.

The trailer is here. It's a  a UCLA senior capstone film.

From the credits:

And this is the writer/director Maya:

Just a comment or two.

"Saif" may not have thrown rocks in the film, but in real life, thousands of his felllow Arab youth do. And not only do the do damage and injure but their rocks kill.

Moreover, as I have been following the "settler violence" theme, in most of the cases involving livestock, Arabs have initiated poisonng water sources as well as leaving posioned food in the garzing fields. In addition, in many cases, sheep and goats, even entire herds, of Jewish shepherds have been stolen.

Oh, and an observation of dress: no Arab peasant woman out by us would dress like this:

And the other hand, here is that actress, Ghazellé, in other apparel:

and

In this field of liberated Arab feminism (I do not know if either of the ladies above are Muslim or Christian and I do not deny her the right to appear in public as she wishes), I doubt we could find a female "settler" woman similarly attired for the role of a youthtop girl/woman.

Incidentally, Ghazelle lives in LA so I wonder where the film was shot.

Perhaps we need a Jewish/Israeli producer to put something on nthe screen to balance this?

_____

*  I checked. Lena, in Arabic, means "tender," "soft," "delicate" and appears in the Quran, symbolizing grace and gentleness.

But see her creation here, which she entitled “ISRAELI FAMILY PHOTO” by Maya Abdallah and explained:

I created this mock israeli family portrait based on the European colonial migrants in “israel” who co-opt and rename Arab culture. Despite their tremendous efforts, it always appears unnatural on them - almost alien, highlighting the disconnext between their imposed identity and the authentic culture they attempt to mimic.

#netanyahuispolish

Description:
Three israeli aliens pose for a family portrait in their Arab style home. A plaque that reads “Am yisrael chai” (the people of israel)

Not very tender.

^