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‘All That’s Left of You’ Review: Cherien Dabis’ Sprawling Epic Sees the Palestinian Struggle Through the Eyes of a Family
Compassionately observant of generational trauma, Cherien Dabiss's Sundance submission is a meaningful contribution towards Palestinian narratives.
Dabis wasn’t able to seize the same level of narrative confidence in “May in the Summer” (2013), but certain moments and ideas in her new film, “All That’s Left of You,” remind one of her panache as a storyteller, even if her sprawling epic about a family marked by longstanding generational trauma feels needlessly bloated in the aftermath. The scene, in which the Israeli soldiers (in broken Arabic, as subtitles often and intentionally spell out throughout the whole movie) heartlessly humiliate and embarrass Salim in front of his son, has the heart-wrenching makings of an Italian Neorealist sequence — searing, honest and soul-crushing. Without spoiling the couple’s ultimate decision (although it shouldn’t be a hard one to guess in such a morally righteous movie) or the aforementioned mystery listener’s identity, suffice to say Dabis delivers a generous parting message about the sanctity of all human life, while commemorating the ongoing sorrow of her own people.
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