When I Saw You

Annemarie Jacir's Palestinian film follows Tarek and his mother, who settle in a refugee camp in Jordan after the war of 1967. The father was lost in the chaos; the boy will not accept waiting and one day walks out of the camp. The film tells refuge through a child's impatience. The adults wait to return and build an order; Tarek does not understand what waiting is, and that supplies all the movement of the narrative. Outside the camp the boy comes upon an armed group and stays with them a while. Jacir neither exalts nor condemns them; she shows them as another form of waiting. Mahmoud Asfa plays Tarek. Who it's for: those who like Palestinian cinema and war narratives from a child's view. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a two-sided account of the conflict; the film looks from a single position and does not hide it.