6/12/2023–|Last updated: 12/6/202302:41 PM (Mecca time)
The social media audience’s appeal to the series “Fist of the Free” currently confirms that it is closer to “Waad” than to a drama series. The work that was produced and shown last Ramadan almost conveys an exact image of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, starting with the exposure of the occupation’s spies, to the capture of a large number of its soldiers. The series was shown on Al-Aqsa TV, in addition to more than 32 other Arab channels.
Despite the modest capabilities evident on the screen, the director’s artistic ambition and the honesty that appeared clear in the work’s scenario indicate creativity that is different from most of what is currently presented on the Arab artistic scene, and show the contradiction between a drama that only aims to entertain, versus a work that carries a national and ideological message. At the same time.
Perhaps the military terms that spread on people’s lips, such as “distance zero,” which appeared in the Al-Qassam Brigades’ videos about the current war, first appeared in the “Fist of the Free” series, as if the series was a final “rehearsal” for the operation that shook Israel.
Free grip
Before presenting the story, vocalist Abdel Majeed Erekat presents the intro song that touches the heart and prepares the viewer to receive an epic of national feelings, especially when he sings:
O page of the Book of Victory and the lines of our pride
With blood…with tears of victory you perfumed our life
The series deals with the modern Zionist attempts to penetrate the Gaza Strip through the infiltration of some Musta’rabs and agents and spies of the Israeli internal security service “Shin Bet” into the Strip to carry out various tasks, including assassinations, tracking, and espionage. “Fist of the Free” reviews the resistance’s ongoing efforts to confront these attempts, which are based on scientific management and a gradual leadership structure that confirms the resistance’s keenness to protect the Palestinian people, and succeeds in uncovering a large number of plans before they are implemented in different places and at different times as well.
The work that was produced and filmed in Gaza reflects the state of arrogance that blinded the occupation from monitoring the plan of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” with its clear features.
If the former Prime Minister of the occupation, Golda Meir, said, “Arabs do not read, and if they read, they do not understand, and if they understand, they do not work and soon forget,” then the makers of “Fist of the Free” may now laugh out loud, stressing that “Israelis do not watch soap operas, and if they watch them… Their ego will prevent them from believing it.”
The series is written by writer Fares Abdel Hamid, with the help of writer Tasnim Al-Mahrouq, directed by Muhammad Khalifa, with the participation of Hossam Abu Dan, and produced by the Gaza Artistic Production Department. It stars the artist Rashad Abu Sakhila, Ahmed Fayyad, Ghassan Salem, Hamed Hassouna, Raed Qandil, Jawad Harouda, Zuhair Al-Balbisi, Hassan Al-Khatib, Safaa Hosni, Nevin Ziara, Raeda Abu Dayyah, Mervat Mahmoud, Diaa Baroud, and Ahmed Al-Najjar.
The first paradox: a professional series by an amateur group
If the steadfastness of the people of Gaza is a true miracle that prompts ordinary Europeans and Americans to wonder and search for its reasons, then the paradox of “The Fist of the Free” is the production of a professional series that was carried out through a huge group of amateurs and volunteers, the largest wage received by one of them – the hero of the work – amounted to three thousand dollars. This is a number that goes to zero when compared to the salary of any fourth-grade actor in an Egyptian series.
As for lighting, the screen provides clear information about the use of regular lamp lighting, as the “Night – External” scenes are satisfied with the light of street lamps, and “Day – External” scenes are limited to the light of the sun. But the work revolves around connected military and secret security work, and therefore the light of the lamps, with their weakness and inability to express and direct the viewer’s feelings, was the dominant part of the work.
The cameras used were not in the best condition in terms of lighting. They were mediocre, as well as the shooting angles and the stability of the staff. This was only due to the use of amateur photographers or relatively old cameras in Gaza, which has been under siege for more than 16 years. There is neither a camera nor a pencil.
Just as photography and lighting came as a reinvention of this world, the acting performance was honest and pure, without techniques or pretension, despite the slow movement that often created a barrier between the viewer and the action, especially in the fight scenes and chases that required a different rhythm in the movement of the actor himself, and of course. Techniques are not available to adjust the rhythm with the viewer’s ability to follow.
Despite this, the heroes of the work worked hard to control the emotion to be consistent with the situation, so the performance was a copy of it in social reality – especially in family scenes with few exceptions – with the actors and actresses providing reactions that were higher than what was required, or much lower than it.
What truly distinguishes the performance is the familiarity that makes the resistance fighters more like relatives to the viewer and not actors. Indeed, honesty leads us to believe that they are actually resistance fighters.
The second paradox: an artistic drama produced by a military resistance
The second paradox seems self-evident to some, which is that the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” produces an artistic drama, but the reality of the matter is that this wild imagination, to the point of conforming to a future that only its owners could have imagined, is created only by the imagination of an artist, and it is very natural and there is no paradox in it, so it always remains Dreaming for the artist, realizing the dream for the world, and securing the dream for the steadfast fighter.
Perhaps what confirms the existence of this trend is the responsibility that the most prominent Palestinian military commander, Muhammad Al-Deif, assumed for the technical committee of the Islamic Bloc, the student framework of the Hamas movement, during his activity in the student council of the Islamic University, from which he graduated in 1988 after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in science (biology). .
What he confirms now is the honor that the creators and heroes of the work received in the presence of the Palestinian leader and politician Yahya Al-Sinwar in May 2022.
Imagine, in the year 2022, and in a clear challenge, a series called (Fist of the Free) is broadcast. The drama of the series explains the plan adopted by Hamas leaders in #Al-Aqsa Flood Yahya Al-Sinwar honored the heroes in it.. As is usual, the Israeli Mossad underestimated this series until it was surprised on October 7 by the flood of Al-Aqsa, which is… pic.twitter.com/uBXzo6He6H
– Dr. Hossam Fawzi Jabr (@HOSAM_MOKBEL) December 3, 2023
Despite what was said about the emergence of the idea of producing the work in response to the series Fauda and other series produced by the Netflix network, which presented the narrative of the occupation, especially about its spies, and established it as a fact, and far from the denial of this matter by the head of the artistic production department in Hamas, Muhammad Al-Thuraya, the real irony is “The Fist of the Free” turned into an original act that entered the door of drama, and the viewer recalled it from history, to confirm the constants of the Palestinian struggle, and document a reality that exudes sacrifice, redemption, and determination.
What is more important than whether the action is an action or a reaction is the interest that the resistance pays to exposing the false narrative of the occupation, and replacing the Palestinian narrative with the facts as they occurred. This is an ambition that is especially necessary in light of the spread of the false narrative of the occupation in the world.
