‘Edward Said: Between Worlds’ Review: A Documentary That Connects the Renowned Intellectual’s Life to the History of Palestine

This Toronto premiere, also playing the New York Film Festival, is a distinctive editorial accomplishment drawn from Said's archives.

By Murtada Elfadl

Murtada Elfadl

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In “Edward Said: Between Worlds,” documentarian Maiken Baird does not follow the tried-and-true formula of a bio-doc. Instead of trying to cram a whole lifetime in under two hours, she lets the protagonist speak for himself. Edward Said, the late Palestinian literary and cultural critic, academic and fierce defender of his people, tells his story in his own words — an apt choice for a film about an intellectual thinker. The doc is made up entirely of archival footage in which Said discusses his life, his ideas and reflections; in the process, it reveals an oral history of Palestinian identity in the wake of the 1948 war.

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