SYNOPSIS:
In June 2002, the Israeli authorities began the construction
of a gigantic security fence, aimed at preventing Palestinian
terrorists from infiltrating Israeli territory. The wall imprisons
Palestinians and Israelis alike.
MUR
(WALL) is a cinematic meditation on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict in which the filmmaker blurs the lines of hatred
by asserting her double identity as Jew and Arab.
In
an original documentary approach, the film follows the separation
fence that is destroying one of the most historically significant
landscapes in the world, while imprisoning one people and
enclosing the other. On the building site of this mad wall,
daily utterances and holy chants, in Hebrew and in Arabic,
defy the discourses of war, passing through the deafening
noise of bulldozers. Mur offers its spectators a last glimpse
of the beauty of this land and the humanity of its inhabitants
a moment before they disappear behind the wall.
REVIEW:
Simone
Bitton gave us Citizen Bashara and now he presents Wall (Mur),
a haunting look at the wall of separation constructed by Israel
to block off Palestinian communities. With intense cinematography
and a vast array of commentators, Wall (Mur) explores the
difference of opinions on the barrier.
The
film starts off with a conversation of a child with the commentator.
The child is wary and fearful. A question is posed by the
commentator to the child and viewers “if I speak Arabic
am I than an Arab?” Throughout the film, seldom is the
faces of the locals being filmed close up, mostly out of fear
of being hunted down and shot except a few who want to be
on TV and broadcast to the world to cry out and reach out
for help.
The
film is litter with insights into the life of the people living
there. Be it Palestinians or Israelis the life there is harsh.
Many valuable footage of the walls constructions and towers
being build and how the lives now revolved around the walls.
The peoples live in frustrations and they can only hope and
pray for a better future. If you are ever slightly engrossed
in the ways and lives of the locals, you will like the documentary
and its approach to catch a glimpse of the beauty of the land
and its people before they are engulfed by the wall and disappear
forever.
Is
it really to block off Palestinian terrorists or is it a masked
attempt at Israeli land-grabbing? What the wall represents
depends on who you talk to, but for all it’s a controversial
and divisive piece of architecture.
This is a film where you will be absorbed in it if you are
concerned in the Israelis and Palestinians affairs, and wish
to learn more of and take an in-depth look at the lives of
its inhabitants.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
There's
a TV-like quality to the visual, as it's not news footage
based, the transfer is bearable and reasonable clear for a
documentary. Presented
in Hebrew and Arabic Dolby Digital 2.0.
MOVIE
RATING:
OVERALL
DVD RATING :
Review
by David Wolf
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