Is the world ready for a farce set in the middle of a pandemic? A Gaza Weekend was made before 2020 and Covid but now appears strangely prescient. The plot takes place in Israel, when the country is hit by a mutant virus and the Gaza Strip becomes the safest spot in the world.
The British-Palestinian filmmaker Basil Khalil’s action-packed drama plays the situation for both lowbrow laughs and political comment. It’s a dangerous tightrope he walks and ultimately pulls off.
The story is swiftly established: a careless act at Israel’s Institute for Microbiological Research allows the rapid transmission of a virus. Split-screen images capture the headlines and hysteria that ensue. It might be difficult to watch the film during our ongoing pandemic, as characters fear a sneeze or refuse to share a lift with a coughing stranger.
Mild-mannered Englishman Michael (Stephan Mangan) and his Israeli girlfriend Keren (Mouna Hawa) take desperate measures to escape when the virus breaks out and Israel is sealed off. Their plan to flee ends up trapping them in the Gaza Strip, considered the safest place around – if you have local protection. The couple eventually accepts shelter in exchange for shelter from two Palestinian street merchants and discovers that one of them, Waheed (Adam Bakri), is also trying to figure out if he should flee too.
Khalil takes an almost cartoonish approach to the comic elements. A carousel of nosy neighbors and others come to the door of Waheed’s flat, leaving a terrified Michael and Keren scurrying to hide or find disguises. The broad comedy also shows up in an exploding cesspit, overflowing toilets, and a running joke about Keren being struck by diarrhea.
Khalil described the film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, as “a bold and unapologetic in-your-face crowd-pleaser” and “unique”. Middle Eastern distributor Front Row’s CEO Gianluca Chakra congratulated the filmmaker on the global popularity of the film at festivals worldwide, adding, “It’s heartwarming to see Arabic films travel and be noticed at the highest level.”