Film
Mayor
A 90-minute window into the everyday governance of Ramallah's Christian mayor, Musa Hadid, during his second term. It's not a grand political statement—it's the grinding, unglamorous work of keeping a Palestinian city functioning amid occupation, corruption, and the constant negotiation between ideals and survival. For anyone curious about what power actually looks like when it's small, local, and perpetually compromised.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like observational documentaries that let a civic job's messy, daily compromises unfold without a narrator telling you what to think.
Skip it if you want a clear arc or brisk pace, since this is a patient film where the politics move slowly and mostly through negotiations.
What it asks of you: Ninety minutes of close, unhurried attention, with long stretches of watching a man work through his days rather than being told where to look.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
13th2016
Ava DuVernay's investigation of systemic inequality through American history and incarceration. Like Mayor, it examines how institutions fail people, but through a forensic, expansive lens that builds toward moral clarity.
But Heavy, deliberately argumentative essay-film. If you want story momentum or heroes, this won't give them to you—it's designed to make you sit with uncomfortable truths.
The Act of Killing2012
Joshua Oppenheimer's radical approach to political accountability: let perpetrators of atrocity speak, perform, show us how they justify themselves. Transforms the documentary form itself into a moral instrument.
But Deeply, intentionally disturbing. You're watching people describe mass murder without visible remorse. The method is brilliant but the content is hard.
Four Rooms1995
Logical twin to Mayor: hour and a half in a Mumbai hotel where a cleaner's life intersects with guests' lives. Same unglamorous attention to labour, dignity, and what happens when systems don't account for real people.
But Deliberately quiet and observational. No plot engine, no climax. If you need something to happen every ten minutes, this will feel static.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Mayor
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Death of Stalin2017
Both ask: what does power look like when it's not grand? Both show how much effort goes into the machinery of administration, how arbitrary and human it all is beneath the ideology.
Armando Iannucci's pitch-black comedy about Soviet bureaucrats scrambling for power after Stalin dies. Same subject as Mayor—how governance actually works—but filtered through absurdist satire instead of observational documentary.
But Darkly comic tone about authoritarian institutions and death. If you want your political stories serious and solemn, the comedy might feel disrespectful.
More like this (7)
Winter Song2015
Documentary about Palestinian life across the separation wall, filmed over years. Not about politics—about the texture of living under occupation, which is what Mayor captures so precisely in one city.
But Structurally experimental and sometimes opaque. The form mirrors the subject (fragmentation, layering) but that can feel obscure rather than illuminating.
Machines2017
Rahul Jain's look at a textile factory in India. Hypnotic, patient filmmaking about labour, exploitation, and the human cost of production. Same quiet moral intensity as Mayor.
But Very slow, almost trance-like pacing. Some viewers find it meditative; others find it tedious. Requires you to meet it halfway.
Hoop Dreams1994
Classic because it refuses to simplify: follows two basketball players across 20 years and shows how institutions, race, and economics actually shape lives, not as theory but as daily reality.
But Made in 1994 so the image quality is soft. Runs three hours. The editing style is dated. But the substance has aged perfectly.
The Salt of Life2011
Federico Fellini's later work about aging, desire, and the texture of daily Roman life. Not political, but that same Italian neorealist attention to how people actually move through the world.
But Episodic, plotless. It's a film about attention and observation rather than narrative. If you need clear dramatic stakes, you'll be frustrated.
O.J.: Made in America2016
Ezra Edelman's ten-hour epic about how America made O.J. Simpson and what that reveals about race, celebrity, and the limits of the legal system. Monumental and essential.
But Ten hours is a commitment. It sprawls. Some sections feel like you're re-living cable news from the 90s, which is the point but also draining.
Gomorra: La Serie2014
Mayor shows governance being corrupted from without and within; Gomorrah shows what replaces it when institutions fail. Both understand that power isn't about ideology—it's about who controls the infrastructure of daily life.
Italian TV series about Neapolitan crime families and the interlocking systems they corrupt. Not a celebration of crime—a precise, brutal anatomy of how parallel power structures replace official ones.
But Serialized across seasons so you're in for the long haul. In Italian with subtitles. Violent, nihilistic tone. Offers no heroes or redemption.
Leningrad Cowboys Go America1989
Both treat bureaucracy, displacement, and cultural mismatch with the same affectionate deadpan. Kaurismäki films the absurd gap between how systems work and how humans actually live—exactly what Osit sees in Hadid's office.
Aki Kaurismäki's deadpan road comedy about a Finnish rock band touring America. Has nothing to do with politics but everything to do with the texture of Mayor—that dry, observant attention to how people move through systems that don't quite fit them.
But Deeply strange and dry. The humour is glacial. If you're expecting warmth or conventional comedy, you'll be cold the whole time.
People
Cast
- Musa HadidSelf
- David OsitSelf (voice) (uncredited)
- Jihad BarakatSelf (voice) (uncredited)
Directing
- David OsitDirector
Production
- Abigail DisneyCo-Executive Producer
- Maxyne FranklinExecutive Producer
- Teddy LeiferExecutive Producer
- David OsitProducer