By Glenn Dunks

Documentaries about bureaucracy can be tricky. Not everybody has the luxury of being Frederick Wiseman and be given over four hours to luxuriate in the minutiae of a major city’s political processes like he did in this year’s City Hall. And if nothing particularly interesting happens then all you’re left with is a movie about people pushing paper around for 90 minutes, which would thrill me by doubtful many others. American director David Osit is at something of an advantage with Mayor, however; set in the city of Ramallah in the Palestinian West Bank.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Osit has missed the obvious story right in front of his face. For the opening stretches of Mayor, about Ramallah’s Mayor Musa Hadid, the director is seemingly content to focus on administrative nonsense including an amusing, extended narrative strand around Hadid’s inability to grasp the concept of city branding (as a public servant myself, I related). I was beginning to think that this film would be just a curious diversion showing how life in the Palestinian National Authority does carry on.

But Osit proves to be much smarter than that in how he has structured Mayor...