Time That Remains Satire

At the beginning of the film, The Time That Remains, the history and trauma are portrayed through the eyes of the character Fuad who is Elia’s father. Although the film takes a satirical approach to the nakba and all other events that come with it, Elia Suleiman does a good job of showing the traumas from not only his past but also his father’s. According to Joseph Massad, “Elia Suleiman has shown more interest in a satirical imaging of Israeli militarism, which if it did not have such violent consequences would be laughable for its buffoonery,” (42). Suleiman uses satire as an amplifier of trauma because it requires the viewer to think deeper about the implications shown. From the beginning, Fuad runs to save a wounded man and continues to

We can also see trauma being spread through supporting characters such as the neighbor who attempts and persists in burning himself alive because of the nakba. As funny as it may seem, the neighbor struggles to light himself on fire because he is weak to kill himself. That scene shows how Palestinian people continue to move on despite the pain and suffering they go through every day. Especially, when Elia grows up and moves over to the West Bank, he sees how many residents manage to stay alive even when targeted by Israeli soldiers such as when a man was seen throwing away trash and pointed at by a tank. Nevertheless, a trauma in The Time That Remains is portrayed in a bittersweet manner not only through ridicule but also through the expressions of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people are coping with their past because most of them have nothing left to lose; they keep going because they were used to the trauma that they faced just like Elia and his

Zaki Pasha, unlike other characters, represents himself as the older generation within Cairo who grew up before the Egypt Revolution in 1952. He resides in the Yacoubian building with a lavish lifestyle and a massive ego. Bothayna is a character that represents the post-revolution working-class woman who had to do whatever she could to survive. When both of these characters interacted, we see an argument about how Cairo is portrayed between them; Zaki prefers to stay in the country that is his home because, without it, there would be no identity for him even if he lived in another country; Bothayna contemplates leaving the country because there is nothing to appreciate and no opportunities for her in Cairo. When Bothayna asked Zaki Pasha about loving the “homeland”, he replied, “I have no reason but to love it” and that “Poverty’s never affected patriotism” (Hamed 1:24:00). Zaki had taught Bothayna that the identity of a country is not about its material value but rather it is about appreciating the world as it is. Seeing the wedding scene at the end of the movie shows Bothayna’s acceptance of the identity of Cairo as shown through her character development. It is important to note that within the movie, each character represents multiple demographics within Cairo and that one perception cannot ultimately shape the