Mohammad Bakri, who won great acclaim as an actor but faced condemnation for a documentary he directed, which was condemned for its anti-Israel bias, has died at 72 of heart disease at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
Bakri’s triumphs as an actor in Israeli and international films and television, and on stage, were eclipsed in later years by a struggle over his 2002 documentary, Jenin, Jenin, which was about Operation Defensive Shield, and it sparked controversy for years.
The film was based on interviews with residents of the Jenin refugee camp, including their testimony and footage of the camp. It was accused by critics of presenting a distorted narrative of events and claiming atrocities against Palestinians that the Israeli government said were untrue. It was banned shortly after it came out, which began a long legal fight during which it was banned several times.
Five soldiers who fought in the Jenin refugee camp during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 sued the cinematheques in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in 2007 for showing the film, and also sued Bakri for NIS 2.5 million. Bakri was acquitted of the charges the following year.
He was born in Israel, in Bi’ina in the Galilee in 1953, but for decades identified himself as Palestinian. After completing his studies at the theater department of Tel Aviv University, he performed in both Arabic and Hebrew theater productions with such companies as Habima Theatre, the Haifa Theater, and the al-Kasaba Theater in Ramallah.
Bakri's debut in cinema
In 1983, he debuted in Costa-Gavras’s Hanna K. The following year, he had his breakout role in Uri Barbash’s Beyond the Walls, playing a convicted terrorist in an Israeli prison who joins forces with a Mizrahi thief (Arnon Zadok) to mount a rebellion against the corrupt prison establishment. The movie worked as a drama as well as a political allegory and was a huge hit in Israel. It was nominated for an Oscar, and Bakri won the award for Best Actor given by the Israeli Film Academy.
His other notable Israeli films included Eran Riklis’s Cup Final (1991) and Ali Nasser’s The Milky Way (1997). Fluent in Hebrew, he was occasionally cast as a Jew, and he played a rare romantic Jewish leading role in 2001 in Benny Toraty’s Desperado Square.
He acted in many international films and series, including in the television shows Homeland, Tyrant, and The Night Of. In 2022, he played an Egyptian general in Cairo Conspiracy.
At times, he was cast in biblical epics, and he played Samuel in the 2016 series, Of Kings and Prophets. In the recently released series, House of David, he played the King of Edom.
He also worked as a theater director, and in 2012, he became artistic director of Al-Saraya Theatre, part of an Arab-Jewish theater initiative in Jaffa.
Throughout his career, he spoke often of his wish to give voice to what he described as overlooked Palestinian narratives. In 2015, he ran for Knesset on the Hadash party list.
He had six children, five sons and a daughter, and four of his sons, Adam, Ziad, Mahmoud, and Saleh, became actors and have continued his theatrical legacy. In 2007, Saleh Bakri won an Ophir Award for The Band’s Visit.
In a 2007 interview with Yediot Aharonot’s magazine Seven Days, Saleh said, “Dad is first and foremost my teacher. The person who has accompanied me, together with my mother, throughout my life. I learned so much from him. He was a father who hugged, full of love, full of respect. The most important thing he gave me was to be who I am. My parents taught us to love people and to show respect. That is ingrained in me from birth.”