After the ending of The Time That Remains (2009), I thought that Elia Suleiman had said everything he wanted to say in regards to the fate of Palestinians in The Holy Land. I mean despite the brief optimism of the Arab Spring, things got much worse and Israel's occupation of the West Bank and its blockade of Gaza have been total. With the majority of Arab states no longer ignoring it diplomatically or opposing it, Israel can now treat the Palestinians any way they want with no threat of recourse. It seems Suleiman has recognized this too, so after 30 minutes of the audience catching up with him after 10 years (his mom has died―the last recognizable person of his first 3 films), and with his Palestinian neighbors looking like characters from The Iceman Cometh, he decides to leave. Suleiman's first feature film sees him come into Palestine from exile in New York City and Europe and now he is taking the reverse journey.
We first see him, after an interesting plane ride, in Paris just in time for Bastille Day celebrations. He finds Paris intriguing and very welcome change of pace (we find out interestingly that Suleiman, like Akira Kurosawa, is an ass man). We then see how the charm of Paris quickly fades to bewilderment at the culture change takes him by surprise (this is an actual thing called...Paris Syndrome). It should be noted that Suleiman is still playing his actual-self, so people recognize him as a film-maker throughout the film and he is often doing things concerning his film projects in this film (in this way, this film bares a big resemblance to Chantel Akerman's The Meeting's of Anna (1978)). We also can't miss the commentary of a man inspired by Jacques Tati making a film in Paris. But of course we have to move on to New York City.
Well, upon reaching Trump-era America...it is a trip. Besides being treated as invisible or passive aggressively-like in Paris his first interaction after not being in the USA since the 1990s is a taxi driver who is amazed at actually meeting a Palestinian (his second as we learn). He goes to a grocery store and is shocked that everyone in the store has a gun (this is not something you'd see in New York City, but if he was down South it would certainly be accurate) and it is a hilariously over-the-top scene. Once we get to Central Park the tone for this section of the film is set. The diversity of the city is unlike anything seen in Nazareth or Paris; the mania is also very uniquely NYC. After seeing all the folks with their weapons in the earlier scene we see a Palestinian woman engaged in a protest and is immediately swarmed by NYPD: the scene is very reminiscent of Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996). More call backs from 'Chronicles' come when we see his various speaking engagements in an art school and a Palestinian-American conference. We get a brief meeting of Suleiman with Gael García Bernal and a meeting with a fortune teller over the destiny of Palestine.
After he finishes his stay in NYC, he goes back home a little happier and a little wiser, he realizes that at this point-in-time, there is no point leaving Palestine, because the world has become Palestine. It is a bittersweet realization, but a hopeful one for Suleiman.
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