In Mediterranean Fever, Palestinian director Maha Haj indirectly chose to address the crisis of the Palestinians and their existential plight poetically seen through the unexpected friendship between two men.
Living in Haifa, Waleed (Amer Hlehel), is a depressed man in his forties who lacks the desire to live. He failed to achieve his ambitions and despaired about the absence of a homeland and suffers an identity crisis. His wife, Ola (Anat Hadid) tries unsuccessfully to get him out of that psychological condition.
Waleed loves to write novels but is unable to find inspiration for a thriller. Everything changes when he meets his new neighbor Jalal (Ashraf Farrah), a small-time crook who breaks into Waleed’s world. As meetings unfold, we recognize that Jalal suffers from a major financial crisis.
Waleed approaches Jalal when he realizes that he might find what he is looking for. Jalal’s strange life inspires him to write the thriller. During a hunting trip together, Waleed notices that Jalal is a skilled sniper. So, he asks for his help to fulfill his desire to put an end to his life. Jalal revolts and interrupts him at first. After a chat, the two make a deal they think will benefit each other. But events did not go as planned. 
Mediterranean Fever sounds strange title for a film. However, Haj tried to relate this psychological condition to the Palestinian cause.
In a press conference that followed the screening at the Cannes Festival this year, Haj said that “the film is partly about the frustration that we live in every day, wherever we are, in the West Bank, in Gaza, inside Israel or even in exile. A feeling of eternal imprisonment, and you never know when you will be free.”
Concerning the film funding, she explained having had “to wait a few years to figure it out and get it because I refused the Israeli Film Fund support, so my film carries a full Palestinian identity.”
Maha Haj’s first film Personal Affairs (2016) was an Israeli production and represented Israel in several festivals. Mediterranean Fever is her sophomore effort and won the Best Screenplay award in the “Un Certain Regard” section at Cannes.