Through the Veil of Exile (1992)

Overview

The protagonists of this documentary are three Palestinian women in a state of internal exile. Dalal, arrested at sixteen for associating with a terrorist organization, returns home after twelve years in an Israeli prison only to face rejection, both because she adopted a male role and because she is a single woman. Um Muhammad, a peasant living in a refugee camp, places her trust in God alone, while Mary Chass, a Christian from Haifa, moved to Gaza only to find herself and her family were strangers there. The film addresses the notion of the ‘other’ from various perspectives, but privileges the perspective of Palestinian women, removed from the focal point of the Palestinian struggle, isolated behind their veil.

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