What do you tell an eleven-year-old Palestinian who just wants to go home? To be patient? To forget? He can neither comprehend the Nakba nor fully understand his own oppression. All Tarek (a wonderfully pure Mahmoud Asfa) knows is longing. So, he blames his mother for uprooting him and grows frustrated when his new fedayee comrades block his path. His innocence exposes a world gone mad. “We can just walk back!” Annemarie Jacir’s When I Saw You beautifully articulates the complex Palestinian struggle via its resonant take on life’s unwavering ability to endure. And despite its inherently political backdrop of violent displacement, her use of Tarek’s perspective eschews the notion of sides to remind audiences that humanity is paramount. Because a child’s dream of returning home should never prove impossible. Not when hope is precisely what keeps that home alive. Tarek is correct. It should be that simple. — JARED MOBARAK