The Dupes

THE DUPES, a Syrian production by Egyptian director Tewfik Seleh. The film depicts the struggles of three Palestinian refugees in Iraq en route to Kuwait.

Set in the 1950s, THE DUPES traces the destinies of three different men brought together by their dispossession, their despair and their hope for a better future. The protagonists are Palestinian refugees who are trying to make their way across the border from Iraq into Kuwait, the ‘Promised Land,’ concealed in the steel tank of a truck. Representing different dimensions of the Palestinian experience, each one believes he can make a new life for himself, but as the film’s title suggests, their flight is no solution. One of the first Arab films to address the Palestinian question, THE DUPES is based on the 1962 novella ‘Men in the Sun’ by Palestinian writer, artist and resistance leader, Ghassan Kanafani, who was assassinated by the Mossad. Set in Palestine and Iraq, and filmed in Syria by Tewfik Saleh, an Egyptian director, the film was banned in several Arab countries due to its implied criticisms of Arab governments.