New review: ‘It’s better to jump’

Electronic Intifada, 16th April 2014

That attachment stems from the everyday experience of growing up and living in a town — its people, its alleyways, the ways that people make their livings, the food they eat and the songs they sing.
In a setting such as Akka, it is impossible to separate this from the grandeur of the surroundings — the Ottoman khans and Crusader halls — and from the role of the built environment in the city’s history. Abdu Matta, a local tour guide, refers to Akka’s famous walls, last rebuilt by Daher el-Omar in the eighteenth century. Without them, Akka would not have halted Napoleon Bonaparte’s conquest of the Middle East.
Matta also declares that “I’m Canaanite before I’m Palestinian.” In doing so, he lays claim to millennia of rich Palestinian heritage, an awareness that many of his fellow Akkans articulate in myriad ways throughout this film. Footage of modern-day Akka is blended with archive reels to show the continuity embodied by the city’s people.

The full review is here.