
All That’s Left of You: A Palestinian Family’s Generational Struggle Under Occupation
Film Reviews
Director: Cherien Dabis
Premiere: 01.25
“The sound of gunfire is not scary. We’re used to it.”
All That’s Left of You follows the journey of one Palestinian family over decades, taking place in 1948, 1978, 1988 and 2022. In 1948, we are introduced to Sharif (Adam Bakri), a Jaffa resident who owns an orange orchard that has been in his family for generations. During the Nakba, the mass displacement of Palestinians during the First Arab-Israeli War, his family must flee without him. While attempting to defend their land, Sharif is arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and taken to a work camp for months before finally being allowed to rejoin his family after suffering a heart attack. It’s a joyful reunion, but it’s already clear that they will likely never return home.
Now 30 years later, Sharif lives with his son Salim (Saleh Bakri) and Salim’s wife, Hanan (Cherien Dabis). The remainder of the film sees Salim and Hanan attempting to raise their kids safely and happily, hoping to avoid the fate that befell Sharif so many years ago. But of course, life in the West Bank is never quite that simple, and as the years go on, the family befalls all manner of trials, tribulations and tragedies, testing each member in unique ways. This culminates in a time jump to 2022 that pulls the entire film into sharp, heartrending focus.
All That’s Left of You came to life with the help of several Jewish producers and Israeli crew members, lending a sacred air of solidarity to the production. Though a fictional story, much of it is based on true events. In fact, certain scenes are inspired by Cherien Dabis’ own life experience, as she saw her own father held at gunpoint by the IDF as a child. Wearing multiple hats as director, writer and actor, Dabis shows her tremendous talent both in front of and behind the camera. She also boasts a superbly talented supporting cast; there’s not a single performance that didn’t move me. I found myself especially impressed by the child actors who manage to navigate this difficult subject matter with skill that belies their age.
Watching All That’s Left of You is an almost overwhelmingly emotional experience — tears were streaming down my face for a majority of the film’s runtime. While much of this is thanks to brilliant direction and performances, it’s also due to the relevance of the subject matter. Many moments in the film immediately bring to mind the hundreds of videos of Palestinians clutching their dead children that have proliferated across the internet within the last year. The same holds true of the Nakba sequence. Thousands of Palestinians slowly marching in a line to reach massive refugee tent camps in 1948 is a spitting image of the footage that came out of Rafah in 2024.
This is even more impressive considering All That’s Left of You went into production two weeks before October 7, 2023 and shooting actually had to move out of Palestine for safety reasons. However, the film is wise to avoid even broaching the subject of anything that occurred after October 7. This choice makes the film even more powerful, because it shows how the struggle of the Palestinian people has remained the same for nearly 100 years, and emphasizes that the themes of the film are timeless. Being Palestinian means living under constant fear that you might be next.
Put simply: All That’s Left of You is a modern masterpiece, a film that everyone should watch, especially since the Palestinian perspective has been overlooked for so long in mainstream Western media. In fact, according to producer Karim Amer — who was kind enough to host a Q&A after the screening — this is the first time the Nakba has ever been depicted on film.
During the Nakba sequence, one character speaking of the Zionist Israeli government states: “We know they don’t honor agreements.” This line feels especially profound given the recent ceasefire that has gone into effect between Gaza and Israel. Optimistically, this might point towards a brighter future for Palestinians, one where they are entitled to self-determination and allowed to be free from nearly 80 years of oppression.
But will this ceasefire, like countless peace attempts before, be a short-term Band-Aid to an issue that needs a long-term solution? Can Palestine count on Israel to remain true to their word, or will history repeat itself? Despite their harrowing history, All That’s Left of You wants you to believe that there is hope for a future where all Palestinians are free, no matter how long that might take. —Seth Turek
Read more of SLUG’s coverage of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.