Netflix’s Farha: A True Depiction of a Palestinian Grief

Numerous people have praised the movie for its portrayal of the Nakba and shared their own family’s experience of being forced to leave Palestine.

The fact that Farha accurately depicts the violence endured by Palestinians during the establishment of Israel in 1948 is a major factor in Netflix users’ adoration of the movie.

The story of the movie, which was based on actual events, centers on a teenage girl named Farha who saw Zionist militias murder her family during the Nakba.

Known as “The Catastrophe,” the Nakba literally means “The Catastrophe” in Arabic. It is a term used to describe the events leading up to the creation of Israel, when more than 700,000 Palestinians were either forced to leave their homes or fled them to make room for the new state.

During the time of British rule in Palestine, which lasted from 1917 to 1948, it is also a term used to describe the violence directed against the Palestinian Arab population.

Since the movie’s opening on December 5, the hashtag Farha has become popular on Twitter in the UK, where tens of thousands of users have shared reviews of the movie and urged others to see it.

Reviews

The writer Jalal Abu Khater, who lives in Jerusalem, was one of the many social media users who used Twitter to discuss the movie and recount the struggles their families went through during that crucial time.

“The first scene in Farha featured a village that resembles Lifta, Jerusalem. It brought to mind both of my maternal grandparents, Fatima and Mahmood, who were driven out of Lifta in 1948, against the backdrop of horrific Zionist gang massacres in nearby Deir Yassin, which is only a little more than two kilometers away,” the man wrote.

Others agreed, describing it as “a must-watch,” despite worries that some of the scenes might be too emotional for younger viewers.

On Netflix, my father watched Farha. Every single event depicted in this film, he claimed, “I personally experienced in 1967,” one user noted. A different person retorted, “My mother said something very similar.”

Others commended the director for drawing attention to atrocities they claimed were still occurring today.

“I recently finished watching Farha on Netflix, and it reminded me of how fortunate I am to have the ability to pause the film whenever it became too upsetting or emotional. When their friends and family are being murdered in front of them, Palestinians are powerless to stop it,” a different user wrote.

Another Twitter user recommended watching Farha on Netflix to anyone who could relate to Anne Frank’s story.

Darin Sallam, the film’s director, and Netflix have received a barrage of criticism from both Israeli authorities and regular Israelis since the movie’s release.

According to Israel’s outgoing finance minister, Avigdor Lieberman, “it’s crazy that Netflix decided to stream a movie whose entire purpose is to create a false pretense and incite against Israeli soldiers.”

Additionally, hundreds of spam accounts have posted unfavorable reviews on the movie review website IMDB, downvoting the film’s scores on various websites.

In a statement released on December 3rd, Sallam and the movie’s creators denounced the “aggressive attacks” and initiatives to prevent Palestinians from speaking out.