The Teacher

The feature debut from Farah Nabulsi, The Teacher aims to show the everyday impact of violence in Israeli-occupied Palestine, as English teacher Basem (Saleh Bakri) helps one of his students fight for justice following his brother’s death. Also exploring Basem’s own history of political resistance, there’s a lot of meat to Nabulsi’s film, which highlights the complexity of the subject matter. Despite some compelling central performances, the script unfortunately struggles to develop its ideas, leaving viewers with a scattershot plot that verges on the melodramatic.

Bakri is excellent as the eponymous teacher, with the opening classroom scene cementing him as a strong mentor figure who his students look up to, including Adam (Muhammad Abed El Rahman) and his troubled brother Yacoub (Mahamoud Bakir). Tragedy soon strikes when Adam witnesses his brother being shot when confronting someone burning the town’s olive trees. When the justice system lets him down, Adam vows revenge and tries to join Basem’s cause when he catches him taking matters into his own hands.

With Basem pushing back against Adam’s anger while continuing his own fight, the stage is set for a stark tale of vengeance with a morally conflicted hero. However, the script never pulls at this thread long enough to get the most out of its premise. Rather, the film is too preoccupied with throwing in a romance between Basem and an English social worker (Imogen Poots) alongside the parents of the shooter (Stanley Townsend and Andrea Irvine) searching for their son. Although the intent is to add further complexity to the situation, neither of these subplots brings anything meaningful to the central conflict between Basem and Adam. Consequently, without spending adequate time developing these characters and their relationship, crucial moments between them are left feeling flat and melodramatic.

Lacking in urgency, the plot meanders through its variety of subplots and flashback sequences until it reaches its climax, which likewise doesn’t have the bite needed for its impact to be felt. Although Nabulsi’s goals are admirable, The Teacher’s overreaching narrative stops it from being the taut revenge drama it sought to be.

Andrew Murray

The Teacher is released nationwide on 27^th September 2024.

Watch the trailer for The Teacher here: