Palestine 36 (2025) documents the Palestinian revolt in 1936 as a result of the revelation that the British Empire would after having done the Balfour Declaration (announcement of the intention to create a new state in Palestine), be moving forward with a partition plan.

In its story, the film wondrously showcases life for the Palestinian characters as they go through day to day life while getting their lands and livelihoods threatened by the British Empire seeking to discriminate against them in favor of new settlements as part of the Zionist project. The settlements are briefly shown, with a fence in between them and the Palestinian people as placed by the British soldiers.

The film’s story is also complimented nicely by the visuals and well-thought out characters from reporters to everyday workers & children. There are times as well where friction within the Palestinian people is shown, as to discuss different ideas of how to deal with the British Empire which is a positive as well given a lack of insecurity to showcase different ideas freely. I hope there are more movies like this one, because it is a strong story that needs to be seen more. In the past two years we’ve seen an incredible rise in opposition to the occupation of Palestine and films like this don’t tell you things anymore but simply straight up show you what it was like. I mean that literally, given archival footage is used which blends quite nicely with everything else in the film.

Conclusion

★★★★★

Conclusively, Palestine 36 (2025) reshapes the cinematic narrative around 1930s Palestine not only by being the first feature film telling the story from a Palestinian perspective but also one that is of a high quality. Scenes are well made, characters well developed + clear in their goals, and an all in all strong sense of space created.