Hanna K.

A film about a lawyer and her client, set in Israel. Hanna Kaufman is an American-born lawyer living in Israel. She is given a case: a Palestinian named Selim is charged with crossing the border illegally. He does not accept the charge; he says he returned to the village where he was born. The village no longer exists. Hanna takes the case as an assignment at first. As she goes on she starts looking for what he says in the records, and the matter moves out of law into a question of belonging. There is a personal line as well. Two men are in Hanna's life: her former husband, who is a prosecutor, and her French partner. The narrative runs those relationships alongside the main question. The film met a harsh reaction on release. Building the subject around the Palestinian side's story caused argument, and it was withdrawn from circulation in America quickly; for many years it was hard to find. Jill Clayburgh plays Hanna and Mohammad Bakri plays Selim. Jean Yanne and Gabriel Byrne are in the cast. Costa-Gavras directed. A contested but important production for anyone who likes political cinema and courtroom stories. For a viewer looking for balance, the film plainly looks from one side and does not conceal it.