Review of The Little Traitor (2009) by Jim H — 18 Jul 2012

A Palestinian Jew "betrays" his community by forming a friendship with British officer in 1947.

The friendship between Sergeant Dunlop and Proffy, played by Alfred Molina and Ido Port respectively, is charming and endearing, and Molina plays the genial father perfectly. As a whole, though, the film has several flaws. Like many Western films about Israel and Palestine, The Little Traitor elides Palestinian Arabs and Muslims from the conversation, condemning them to roles like good-natured merchants with a minute of screen time and a lip-service mention in the film's final moments. It's revisionist history in its worst form, and to suggest that Jews were the only victims of British occupation is myopic and irresponsible.

Despite these political concerns, I think director Lynn Roth is less concerned with Zionist politics, which are certainly depicted, and most concerned with a human coming-of-age tale. Even in this, the film fails because of Ido Port's stoic, bland performance. Molina carries their scenes together, but the child actor's reaction shots might as well be an impromptu photograph of Port watching grass grow.

Overall, even with Port's poor performance, I found myself thinking that the film - even with its historical amnesia - has its heart in the right place, believing that the way to dispel colonization's violence is through personal friendships rather than political violence; if only Roth had applied the same view to present-day issues in which Proffy and Dunlop's roles are reversed.