Gaza Strip
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Movie Reviews of Gaza Strip
Movie Review: excellent film that everyone should see!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very well-made, quite unique documentary. It's probably unlike any other film you will see about this conflict -- it's narrated from the subjective point-of-view of a 13-year-old Palestinian teenager in Gaza. In this way, the filmmaker allows the film to unfold around you and creates a document that truly gives a deeper understanding of what it's like to be a Palestinian living under occupation. This is the way documentary filmmaking was supposed to be -- before the genre went down the tubes with countless made-for-TV docs using only written narration to tell the story. "Gaza Strip" changes all that, and tells it like it is -- from the perspective of the subject. "Gaza Strip" doesn't pretend for a moment to be "objective" -- it is very clearly a subjective view inside Gaza, and it says so in the written text in the start of the film. So watch out for the reviews that pan the film for not being an Israeli government propaganda piece. The fellow from California even completely misquotes Longley's own review, which is posted for all to see!
"Gaza Strip" is a telling film precisely because it doesn't edit out the uncomfortable moments, like a 12-year-old whose friend has just been killed by Israelis whispering that he wants to "beat back the Jews and kill them off" before bursting into tears. Longley leaves in these moments -- where anyone making a pro-Palestinian propaganda film would have cut them out. When I watch this film, I really feel that I have spent some time in Gaza and seen what life feels like there. Everything in this documentary has the feel of truth -- and that clearly scares some of the viewers who have posted here with one-star reviews.
This IS an important film, a painful, brave and risk-taking film, and as far as I'm concerned, a deeply honest one.
Movie Review: Use your free will and come up with your own opinions!
Summary: 5 Stars
I watched this documentary when it first came out, and I was happy that finally someone had gone in and shown something other then the Israeli news shows.
First off, I have studied filmmaking, and I have to say that this is as close to a true documentary as you can get. The lack of commentary and just film containing what was actually seen is what a documentary should be- not something edited and narrated over until you believe every word said (though I do recommend "Uncle Saddam" and "Loose Change" as two very thick in commentary but still very well made movies). You are supposed to come up with your own mind when you watch a documentary, not agree with a commentator.
Secondly, as a History major in college, I studied the creation of the Nation of Israel, and learned about the near utopia that had already been in existence between the Jews and the Palestinians. When the Holocaust victims moved and lived on communes together since their families had been killed or missing, they would go so far as to spend holidays with their farming Palestinian neighbors. I don't know why this wasn't good enough for everyone, and I wish things had just been left alone. If it had, then children wouldn't be killed when all they were doing was playing in the street.
Violence from BOTH SIDES is totally senseless and disgusting. But it is not hard to put yourself into the shoes of a small boy who's entire family and all his friends have been killed, who has had his home destroyed by a tank, and who now seeks revenge. It's easy to go into a violent mode if you've got nothing left to loose.
No matter what religion you are, no matter what side you think is right, please, if you watch this movie, keep an open mind and come up with your own conclusions. As human beings, independent thought is our most precious of liberties.
Movie Review: This film shows the reality behind the conflict
Summary: 5 Stars
Maybe you don't know much about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; maybe you know an awful lot. But either way, this is a film that you ought to see. At once delicate and terrifying, this documentary is a rare glimpse inside the Gaza Strip, a place most of us only hear about and can barely imagine. More than a glimpse, actually, this film is more like a long, hard stare. We start off following in the footsteps of a 13-year-old Gaza boy, Mohammed, who works a paper boy and throws rocks at Israeli tanks in his spare time. Through his eyes we are led deeper and deeper into one of the most intractable conflicts around, and we see a side of it that almost never gets seen, especially in the US.
This film has a wider scope than the stone throwing kids of Gaza City, however -- it extends all the way south into the Rafah refugee camp and lingers for long periods in Khan Yunis, the site of a very disturbing gas attack on a Palestinian refugee camp by the Israeli military. This scene is so controversial that it has aroused a lot of argument in interested circles -- inclusion in a BBC documentary and fierce denials by the Israelis that such things ever happened at all.
Many important issues are covered in this film -- we witness children being shot at, the demolition of Palestinian homes by the Israeli military, and the growing sense of hopelessness among Palestinian civilians. In very telling scenes, we see what seems to be the genesis of a new generation of suicide bombers, giving up all hope for life on this earth.
This is not a happy film, but it is an honest one -- and one filled with dense layers of meaning. This is not simply journalism or a man filming interviews with officials -- this documentary is a piece of art, and a cry for justice.
Movie Review: excellent film, & THANK YOU for your review, Mr. Longley!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a MUST SEE documentary, whether or not you know much about the history of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.(Also, before you read this and any other review, I strongly recommend scrolling down to James Longley's own Amazon review of his film and his response to those who have attempted to label the reality his film presents as hatred or anti-semitism. Indeed, it is not!) I work at the Univ of California, at Santa Cruz, and we purchased an educational copy "Gaza Strip", to show to students. About 500 students showed up for the film and many people were stunned, shocked, horrified by crimes of the Israeli gov, and confused as to why they do not see this type of footage on mainstream media. Last night on campus, there was a screening of Benny Brunner's new documentary "The Wall" (which further exposed a reality that is so well hidden by the US media/gov.) about the the Berlin-like wall that is currently being built around, and imprisoning hundred's of thousands of Palestinan people, using our American tax dollars. We need to expose as many people as possible to this reality and do everything we can to challenge these atrocities being committed in OUR NAME!!
It is no wonder why this stuff is hidden, as this occupation is (as is the new one happening in Iraq) extremely profitable and is big business for the U.S. and Israel.
So watch this film, and see life and reality thru the eyes of a young Palestinan boy, and learn about the deathly billions we are spending killing innocent Palestinans while defending Israel and its 'dozers from the rocks these kids throw.
Movie Review: i hope those whom have chosen to rate this film poorly are able to read this.
Summary: 5 Stars
It is sad. The movie breaks my heart. I wish I were a dog. Then, I could not be held responsible for all that the human race has proven themselves capable of.
It disgusts me further to think that one reviewer decided that since it is not a film about the suffering of his own people from North Korea, it is not nearly as heart wrenching. In further responce to that individual, to date the intifada has claimed more than 800 Israeli lives. And for every Israeli life taken, approximately 5 Palestinian lives were lost. Even if it were 3 lives, it is unacceptable.
Then we have individuals who are so anti opposing view, that they have chosen to remain in their bubble without even viewing the film. Yet, for some reason, they feel compelled to post a review. They are what is wrong with humanity. Actually, they define the lack there of. If it were their child who was forced to grow up and die in as humiliating a life as some of those depicted in the film, they are either liars or fools to believe that they would not react in the same ways.
Those who may feel that the film was anti-Semitic are justifiable. It is. It is, because the actions often taken by the Israelis are a strong argument against "humanity". I don't feel that violence, in any form, is ACCEPTABLE. But I am advanced enough to UNDERSTAND it.
An open mind is difficult to maintain. And admittedly, I am (and have been for years) a sympathizer of the plight of the Palestinians. I am an idealist. So does that also make me a terrorist?