Yasmin wears her hijab in the house and takes it off while with workmates.

By Khaled Shawkat, IOL Correspondent

ROTTERDAM, February 7 (IslamOnline.net) – Two European films shown at the 34th Rotterdam international film festival caused quite a stir among cinema critics and the audience.

Reason? Presenting anti-western attacks by extremists as a retaliation for the mounting hate and persecution campaigns targeting Muslims in the West in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

An Arab film critic hailed the two movies as “a way more effective than bullets to expose the unjust practices” perpetrated by some Western governments against their Muslim communities.

Scottish movie “Yasmin”, directed by Kenny Glenaan, blamed the “racism” of British authorities in dealing with Muslims after the 9/11 attacks as the main reason for many young British Muslims joining Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.

“Private”, an Italian film directed by Saverio Costanzo, featured the detentions and killing of children and women, in addition to other repressive practices by the Israeli occupation army against the Palestinians, as the main driving force behind Palestinian attacks.

Identity Crisis

The events of “Yasmin” take place in a Scottish city, centering around the life of a Muslim family -- of a Pakistani origin – whose widower head owns a store for fixing TV and radio sets, while posing as a mosque imam at the same time.

The father lives with his son “Nasser”, while his daughter “Yasmin” lives at another house in the same street with her husband, who is also a relative of the family.

The film depicts both Nasser and Yasmin as an example of the second Muslim generation in the West, living a deep identity crisis and torn apart between two contradicting principles.

The first is an Islamic one, represented in a pious father, the second is represented in the culture and habits of Western society that seems to give little consideration to the rules of religious ethics.

That crisis was clearly reflected in the duplicate behavior of both Nasser and Yasmin, with the latter appearing in her hijab and living a traditional conservative Muslim life among her family, while taking off her hijab and following Western traditions among her workmates.

The film highlights how the violent attitude of British security and judicial authorities, coupled with the racist anti-Muslim tendency that gripped British society after 9/11 have haunted Nasser and Yasmin.

They are left with the impression that the country where they were born and grew up (Scotland) still views them as Muslim migrants, posing a risk to its security and stability.

The film ends with Yasmin going to the mosque to pray, while Nasser migrates to Afghanistan to join a militant group, stressing his next destination would be occupied Palestine.

“Private”

The Italian movie, meanwhile, features the life of a Palestinian university professor, living with his wife and family, at a two-storey building overlooking an Israeli military post in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The family is exposed to pressures and violent practices at the hands of Israeli troops to flee their home and land, live as a refugee elsewhere.

The film details the brutal Israeli practices when they divided the professor’s house into three separate sections.

The first is off limits to the professor and his family members, they need a permission to step on the second section, while the Israeli forces are jamming the whole family (seven members) in the third section, representing only one fifth of the building’s area.

“Private” highlights the struggle of the Palestinian family and its stamina in the face of the Israeli scheme.

It also explains the mechanisms and driving force behind the Palestinian resistance, through the attitude of the professor’s elder son and daughter, who both refuse to give in to the Israeli army and carry arms to liberate their occupied land.

Effective

Commenting on the two films, Iraqi cinema critic Intishal Al-Tamimy told IslamOnline.net both “Yasmin” and “Private” can smoothly and easily win the hearts and minds of Western audience and present vision different from that championed by biased Western media.

He maintained that cinema remains “the strongest means in exposing the unjust and repressive practices by some Western governments against their Muslim communities”.

“That means is more effective than bullets in revealing the tragedy of the Palestinian people and the aggressions of the Israeli occupation forces.”