Eye For Film >> Movies >> A Short Film About Kids (2023) Film Review
Kids, they say, are full of energy and cinematographer-turned-director Ibrahim Handal lets it infect both the mood and style of this pacy short to good effect.
A trio of kids – who will later be joined by a fourth (Omar Qaraqe, Ayham Qaraqe, Majd Al-Khatih and Omar Al Kurd), are inspired by a TV advert and the sight of a rough-and-ready ice-cream delivery to try to make it to the beach. That’s easier said than done when you’re knee-high to a grasshopper and don’t have the funds for a start, not to mention the fact that these kids are stuck in a refugee camp in Bethlehem.
Handal takes us off at break-neck speed with the kids as they zip around the place, hatching a plan to order a taxi and working out how to raise the cash for the trip. Handal places the emphasis on the children’s experience but includes pertinent observations for adult viewers. Tourists are seen treating the kids as objects of curiosity not so far removed from the way they might view an exhibit and then there’s the issue of the wall surrounding the camp, which requires a permit to exit.
The pace of the action helps Handal to pack a lot in and his framing is inventive. He begins, for example, by viewing the initial trio of boys from behind as they talk, intriguing us so that we pay attention when we get a better look at them. The passage of time is also cleverly conveyed both by sharp editing by the director (with Hayat Laban) and by the costuming – the kids’ get-up for their beach trip is a treat. The kids performances are naturalistic and Handal pays attention, so that he captures their reactions, the smile that breaks out on one kids face as he gets an unusual ride is surely as much a documentary moment as a fictional one.
As for the sociopolitics, Handal doesn’t labour the point, instead focusing on the kids’ point of view as they prove that freedom is, in many ways, a state of mind that cannot be fenced in if you don’t let it.
Reviewed on: 09 Apr 2025
