Nabi Samwil 1099–2099 takes us into the heart of the small Palestinian village of al-Nabi Samwil, located northwest of Jerusalem. The 2014 documentary by Eran Torbiner was produced in Israel, in cooperation with Machsom Watch, a left-wing Israeli women’s organization that documents the daily impacts of the Israeli occupation.
At its core, the film tells the story of a place that carries centuries of history and spirituality yet is trapped in the ongoing harsh conditions of the present time. Al-Nabi Samwil is built around the site that is believed to be the tomb of prophet Samuel. Crusaders once called it the “mount of joy,”1 as it was the first point from which people could see Jerusalem in 1099. In today’s reality, however, the village is anything but a place of joy.
Tobiner’s lens captures the village encircled by walls and fences, isolated, controlled—a community “in a transparent cage.”2 The film shows how the village’s Palestinian residents live under constant asphyxiating restrictions, from limited access to neighboring towns and farmland to the inability to expand their homes. The barriers that cut them off are not only physical but also social and economic, weighing mightily on every aspect of their daily lives.
The film compellingly layers the village’s long history that stretches from the Crusader conquest to the present occupation, and by doing so, highlights a continuity of struggles over land, faith, and belonging. By framing the timeline from 1099 to 2099, Tobiner suggests that what is currently occurring (in 2014 at the time it was produced) will shape the future of al-Nabi Samwil for generations to come. As we look at the village today, we find this to be true as its situation has increasingly worsened (see The Suffocation of Beit Iksa, al-Nabi Samwil, and al-Khalayla and Israel Alters Legal Status of Palestinians in Three Jerusalem-Area Villages, Rendering Them “Temporary Residents”).
Nabi Samwil 1099–2099 is not just a film about one village; it is a story about the persistence of a community that is forced to live within walls that were never of their making, and about how history and politics meet in the everyday lives of people who refuse to be erased.