Parents' Guide to

Farha

Movie NR 2022 91 minutes
Farha movie poster: girl highlighted against darkened backdropc

Common Sense Media Review

Barbara Shulgasser-Parker By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 15+

Intense historical drama has violence, mature themes.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 9+

Based on 13 parent reviews

age 18+

Free Palestinian

Watch this movie to support Palestinian and share to anyone who needs to open their eyes and also support this flim even more around the world. Watch this movie to learn the history of Palestinian in 1948 if you still thinking Israel is in the right. Justice for Palestinian.
age 12+

Emotionally captivating

It was such an emotional experience watching Farha. Best movie I have seen in a while. Made me search deeper into the history and have a clear perspective

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (13 ):
Kids say (1 ):

Farha is a sturdy vehicle for shining a light on injustices visited on undeserving victims, but the use of film as a message delivery system requires cinematic skills sometimes absent here. Forty full minutes are in almost complete darkness and it takes Farha many long, wasted minutes of screen time in complete darkness to discover matches and a kerosene lamp. Once she strikes the match, viewers can share her terror and dismay as she sits alone in semi-darkness, but for many more minutes nothing happens, and nothing goes on happening for far too long for this to be a satisfying cinematic experience. A more skillful filmmaker would find ways to dramatize those 40 minutes in the dark. The 2020 Spanish film The Endless Trench grapples with similar limitations -- a man is hidden from murderous Spanish authorities of 1939 behind a fake wall for 30 years -- but that film tells us who the person in hiding is, creating depth of character missing here.

Viewers should also know that in Farha the main character witnesses a horrific war crime, and the filmmaker implies the actual girl who was imprisoned in a cave in 1948 reported that murder, making this a personal account of a witnessed event. The film begins with the words, "inspired by true events" and ends with a suggestive quote: Farha "made it to Syria, where she shared her story, keeping it alive for generations to come." Radiyyeh, other sources say, did report being locked in a cave but did not report witnessing a murder. The filmmaker now acknowledges that witnessing the murder is a fictional invention and not part of the girl's story. For a controversial account of a massacre said to have been committed by Israelis during this time, see the 2022 documentary Tantura.

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