A still from Mohammad Bakri's film "Since You Left."

The film "Since You Left" by renowned actor and Palestinian citizen of Israel Mohammad Bakri is neither a eulogy to his friend and mentor, the writer and politician Emile Habibi, nor is it an account of the late author's life and work. It is instead a poignant and deeply personal letter to the departed.

Bakri's autobiographical narrative in "Since You Left" revolves around a visit to the gravesite of Emile Habibi. The trajectory of the film unfolds like a conversation between two long lost friends; utilizing stock footage and home movies, Bakri tells Habibi of births, deaths and the events that have shaken the region since his passing in 1996. He is alternately playful and pessimistic, adoring and skeptical of his dear friend's wisdom. Emile Habibi was the grandfather of Palestinian literary absurdism; like a Middle Eastern Kurt Vonnegut, he looked at the plight of the Palestinian people with compassion, candor and, most characteristically, humor. Now that he is gone, Bakri seems to tell us, his wit and perspicacity are needed more than ever.

The greater part of the narrative is concerned with the two events which shattered Mohammad Bakri's life in the years after his mentor's passing. The first is his nephew's involvement in an attack on a public bus in the city of Meiron which left 9 Israelis dead, and the subsequent backlash against the entire Bakri family. The second is the censorship of his film "Jenin Jenin" upon its release: the film was banned in Israel for two years. Bakri imparts all of this information as if he were sitting across a cafe table from Emile Habibi, talking over coffee and cigarettes.

Bakri also introduces his old friend to new faces; of particular importance in the film is the friendship which develops between Bakri and the Jewish attorney who volunteers to defend "Jenin Jenin" against the censorship ruling. Avigdor Feldman is the film's principle source of optimism, whose reasons for helping Bakri in his ordeal stem from the inherited memory of the horrors his parents encountered in Europe. The two become close friends during the course of the trial, and just as Bakri recounts for us his shared memories with Habibi, so we are witness to new memories born of the friendship between Bakri and Feldman, not all happy, but certainly genuine.

"Since You Left" is among the more humorous, though by no means light-hearted, documentaries being screened during the 2007 Arab Film Festival in San Francisco. Just as Habibi's writing oscillates between pessimism and optimism, absurdism and stark realism, covering between them the whole range of human emotion, so too does Bakri's testament.

"Since You Left" is available on DVD from Mohammad Bakri's website.