Review: In ‘The Teacher,’ a Palestinian educator becomes a beacon of dignity for his students

During a seemingly normal school day, Basem (Saleh Bakri), a dedicated West Bank educator with hypnotizing eyes, encourages his student Yacoub (Mahmoud Bakri) to get back on track with his studies and to “regain control of his life.” But whatever autonomy the young man can re-assert seems futile in the face of the Israeli occupation that hinders any sense of normalcy. Yacoub’s aspirations for a future have been replaced by anger, all-consuming and warranted after spending two years in prison.

That conflicting, burning sentiment of wishing to move forward despite constantly being reminded that your existence is devalued propels Farah Nabulsi’s feature debut “The Teacher,” even as it occasionally stumbles through its more melodramatic aspects. Nabulsi’s Oscar-nominated 2020 short film “The Present” chronicled a Palestinian father’s negotiation through a dehumanizing Israeli checkpoint along with his young daughter. (Bakri also played the protagonist in that bite-size indictment.)

Within the first few minutes of “The Teacher,” Yacoub winds up dead at the hands of an Israeli settler, leaving his younger teenage brother Adam (Muhammad Abed Elrahman) behind. Yacoub’s defiance seems to transfer directly into Adam, whose worldview has been upended. “The Teacher” was shot on location in the West Bank and the arid landscapes and homes captured by cinematographer Gilles Porte feel true to Palestinian life, making for an arresting visual statement.

Nabulsi, unfortunately, muddles the story with multiple subplots, some inelegant acting and contrived English-language dialogue. There’s Lisa (Imogen Poots), a well meaning NGO worker who becomes romantically involved with Basem, and the Cohens, a Jewish couple whose American-born IDF soldier son has been kidnapped in pursuit of liberating imprisoned Palestinians. Basem is secretly part of this operation.

These add-ons make “The Teacher” unfocused on its way to a larger geopolitical picture. What remains consistent through all the tangents, though, is Bakri’s performance as Basem, radiating a sturdy tranquility, not the kind that comes naturally but an inner peace he forces himself to exude in order to save lives, his own and those of young men like Adam. If he surrenders to the fury that undoubtedly courses through him, then his personal suffering (revealed in flashbacks) would be in vain. The core of “The Teacher” is Basem’s relationship with his pupil, a surrogate child he must protect.

Halfway through the film, Basem and Adam share a grief-stricken embrace after the boy threatens to hurt his brother’s killer. From a wide shot, Nabulsi and editor Mike Pike cut to Adam’s desperate hands on Basem’s back. The intensity with which the teen hugs his teacher, a father figure, helps a viewer comprehend the depth of the sorrow, imbuing “The Teacher” with a moving potency.

But what can you teach someone when their daily reality is so painful? When they must stand simmering in rage as their home is demolished? What purpose can a teacher serve in the face of these agonizing circumstances? Plenty.

That spirit-crushing feeling of powerlessness is what director Nabulsi aims to fend off, admittedly through not always effective narrative means, but with emotional sincerity nonetheless. Basem’s concern is not whether these boys learn a single word of English, but his presence — the everyday reliability that he will be there regardless of how little strength they may have left — is resistance incarnate. Among the ruins, the most important school assignment left is to live despite it all.