Review of Atash

Introduction

Atash (or Thirst) is the story of a Palestinian family who are dragged out to an abandoned outpost by an overbearing patriarch (Hussein Yassin Mahajne), determined to distance himself from family dishonour in his Israeli controlled village. While the brood carve out a living from the surrounding wilderness by way of making charcoal, they`re continually looking for ways to about solving their biggest problem - a lack of water.

Father has plans to build an illegal pipeline bringing them all the fresh water they need. But it`s this project that sparks a flame inside his children, particularly his young son with a yearning for freedom from the dominance of the old man, that threatens to dissolve the quiet family existence.

A debut feature, written and directed by Arab-Israeli film maker Tawfik Abu Wael

Video

Atash looks great.

Presented in a nice, wide 2.35:1 with stellar photography, the arid desert scenery has been captured wonderfully, allowing the viewer to take in every sumptuous detail of the dry, dusty, sun-hazed visuals. Atash also features some of the thickest, deepest blacks commited to film in a while. Very little in the way of negatives, with only very minor grain, and the occasional film print flaw popping into view.

Audio

Dobly Digital 2.0 which is perfectly fine

A scant use of ambient music throughout, what there is used sparingly.

Features

Trailer
Stills Gallery
Tawfik Abu Wael`s "Diary of a Male Whore" 13 minute short film
Interview with the director - a 15 minute feature covering the genesis of Atash.

Conclusion

Atash is a slow, meandering path through family disfunction; a deliberate pace set to emphasise the wearisome routine of a family unit on the brink of collapse. As a man isolates himself farther and farther from reliance on the surrounding civilisation, so too does his family distance themselves from him.

To Tawfik Abu Wael`s credit, the story isn`t bogged down by showy references to the ongoing war in the Middle-East - no soldiers, no border patrols and no high walls. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is placed firmly in the background, only alluded to in passing with visual checks - a necklace made from bullet cartridges, grenade pins strung up along the outside of the dwellings by a bored teenager - or other discrete sprigs of ambiguity from a movie without the intention of sign posting itself. There is a very real fear within the family of being caught doing something illegal - we know why, and he knows we know.

Essentially a tale of a typical dictatorial parent, where what`s best for him certainly isn`t best for his family, Atash makes bold steps in all the right directions. No labyrinthine plot, no high drama, just a quiet family mood piece. The performances are good. The impenetrable animosity between father and daughter is all to clear, yet never fully explained, only hinted at by a father clearly running from his own sense of humiliation. And there lies the film`s strongest feature - the director allows you to think for yourself and make what you will of his baby.

It`s a treat to have such a minor piece of world cinema released on our shores, so admitting Atash falls down in the critical area of maintaining high interest throughout feels ungrateful. Yes, a deliberate pace, but all too often it feels like it`s simply succumbed to just plodding along regardless - certainly the film`s greatest bugbear.

Despite this, it certainly works in the presumed context of what the film-maker was trying to create, and is a recommendation for fans of slightly too slow-burning world cinema.