The HBO Max original Oslo—concerning the Norwegian based backchannels between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli government that led to the Oslo Accords—is marketed almost entirely to an English speaking audience, inherently putting the film in a certain geopolitical box that ends up a bit messy. 

The white characters—the Norwegian couple of Mona Juul (Ruth Wilson) and Terje Rød-Larsen (Andrew Scott)—are the film’s dramatic centers, even if they give lackluster performances, rather than the various cast of geopolitical actors from Palestine and Israel. The people of color, then, become passive despite their negotiations. 

Even the film’s narrative focus on the Oslo Accords seems a little self-serving to the “white savior” complex since– spoiler alert– they end up failing even in the short-term (let alone the long-term). The victories achieved at the end of the film are quickly negated by a few title cards that fill in the next decade of Palestine-Israeli relations. The story would lose its dramatic weight had it been told from a Middle Eastern perspective. 

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