No other land, winner of “Oscar”: the victim is Palestinian and the hero is an Israeli

After obtaining “Oscar”, the best documentary, here people turn to “no other land” by the Palestinian Basil Adra and the Israeli Yuval Abraham, made with a joint effort, although it was presented a year ago at the Berlin Film Festival where he won the same award, causing a debate at the closing ceremony. Far from all the polemics around him, it is correct to say that this documentary is not different in form and content, from other works that put David in front of Goliath, except in the fact that he works to internationalize the story of a small village called Mesfer Yatta and convey its suffering to the “free” world.

There is no picture or word in the film, which has not been created by Palestinian documentary cinema since its foundation, and that tongues have not been in the news of the news when it eats a geographical spot under violence for decades. However, as it is said, the devil lies in the details, and here are many demons and more details; A snapshot from here and another from there, and here we are facing a different reading of reality as a young man who lives the experience of the photographer and the photographer at the same time.

It is the story of a village, a story of friendship, the story of “power”, as Basil Adra says, who holds from our hands to a world governed by the logic of power and is distinguished by the principle of separation, where the truth is taken by force, and what is valid for a person is not valid for another person. This is withdrawing even on the movement within the staff, so the Palestinians do not move, as the Israelis move and they have full freedom to move and spread, while the frequency of life in the owners of the earth makes that life paralyzed and their movement is restricted, subject to the waiting and anticipation factor.

Always present bulldozer.

Basil and Yaval accomplished this film, which talks about the village, which Israel destroys its residents to create training camps. Basil is from the traveler of Yatta, and Yafal from Beersheba and works as a journalist after he refused to join the military service. Yuval has the option (A), Basil La. Yoval triumphs for the weak and the oppressed based on what his conscience dictates, while he passed away his eyes to address what he and his family live. This thing is somewhat raised inside it, since the fifth when he saw the soldiers arresting his father. It is true that the issue is the issue of Basil in the first place, but Yuval turns it into a general issue that belongs to everyone, and therefore he is the true hero of the film. Add to that he could have been in the ranks of the oppressor (or at least in the ranks of the Lampalain), but he decided that the witness and the initiative, despite his prior knowledge that his influence is limited, as he says in one of the scenes in response to a question that a few are concerned with his reports. He even does not understand how Basil is thinking about immigration. This comes from being a fighter who is luxurious to be a part -time fighter.

This friendship between them, which develops in the worst circumstances, is an opportunity to see the angle that each looks at reality and how they deal with it. We discover the difference between those who can return to his home after a long day, and whoever lives in the struggle 24/24. However, the choice remains the real hero. He who will be told, “You destroy what we build,” in linking the person and the group, yet he will not move a finger. On the other hand, Basil is surprised by the impulsion of Yuval, as he is like any activist who believes that his presence will happen all the teams, and that a struggle for lives for decades will end with the participation of some clips on the media. However, let’s do not delude. Vioval does what he does for himself first: “Freedom of others” says, “It will make me safer.”

“You destroy what we build.”

Basil comes out of the darkness of the night, deserving of the first movie clips. In a civilized voice that tells the events. As if he is dead, suspended, all that will follow after the opening scene confirms this. He is the son of a family of activists, and he must follow their example. Drink it with milk. His fate is written in advance. His world is made up of confrontations with the Israeli army; Agency, detention and demolition. Nothing else. A traveler of Yatta is a village without aesthetics in the common sense. The walls of the houses are not orange. It is a stones pile. A plot of land suggests misery and emptiness. But it is the place where it grew up and associated with it. “20 villages side by side in the Mountains of the West Bank,” so he places himself inside geography. At the level of the screen, the Basil problem is in the weight of his shadow and its show. He puts himself in the forefront, but all others are flying around it, without showing any interest in digging in their depths. They are tools that serve their narration.

A cat and mouse game between the oppressor and the oppressed, and the insistence on life on the one hand, with the concern to destroy it on the other hand, this is “no other land.” As in the movie “Five Camera Camera” (Another Palestinian – An Israeli Director of “Oscar”), everything in the film is related to photography, documentation and viewpoint. The recording machine is identical to “the eyes of the free world”, as if there is no truth without it. The words are nothing, if it is not supported by the visual evidence and is documented with the screaming of women, children and elders who protest and repeatedly object to the procedures for demolishing homes and evacuating their residents. As in many of these films, the bulldozer is ready. You are uprooted, crushed, sweeping, equal to the earth, embodies oppression and hyper.

The importance of “no other land”, that it is not a simplistic film that makes what is circulating and known in this regard, but rather raises the speech to a slightly higher level. In one of the scenes, we understand through the audio comment, that the people of the village decided years ago to stand with any party that triumphs for their issue, regardless of its identity. Which the guards of the case will not be understood, from the writers of the boycott office of Israel, who have been wiped out that we are in a state of normalization. They will not understand him because they were not left alone in the face of oppression, as is the case of the people of Mesafir Yatta.

Portfolio in the Palestinian worry.

Aesthetically, opposite the scenes and random shots depicted with a shaky camera imposed by the necessities of documentation and the collection of evidence, we find a torrent of the steadfast scenes that calculate the accounts of staff, training and depth, and this is a problem in itself, because it contributes to making the strings visible. But for fairness, many documentaries in recent years have come to this form, and they are in the process of turning into a new “school”. But with Basil Adra and Yaval Abraham, we feel more fabricated, and this all puts credibility at stake. For example, the first meeting between them is taking place off the camera, as if we were in a scene belonging to the narrative cinema at the level of directing, organizing the space and the movement of the camera that is waiting for what will happen instead of looking for it. Other scenes, as a car that leaves the station to provide fuel, only contributes to enhancing the feeling of falsehood. All this comes in the process of montage that fails to make a rhythmic unit, because there is always a movie that ends and another begins.

The film is absent from the poems and the artistic literature of many Palestinian films, as it starts from personality to year, and whenever the experience becomes a declining level of public speech. The things here have their clear names, and the word issue does not be pronounced, even once. If the film talks about something, it shows it or referred to it in some way. We are not in the fists raised, and what is usually carried by the culture of Arab construction at its rest.

Perhaps what fools the film and brings it closer to the daily reality, is the accumulation of normal moments, and if it comes from within a cave or from under a tent, people go to its affairs, to return and fight when the hour beats. And the film, because it carries the signature of a person who knows what is happening, and repeats these moments of emptiness, where the sitting enjoy a hookah or a cup of tea, which causes us to talk about the comfort of relationships, despite everything. This does not extend the film lightly, but rather supports it. Repeated meetings between Basil and Yaval, according to the fabrication, establishing something that has become more urgent after October 7.

Normal moments in a tense context.

As usual in this type of film, there is a fog, most likely it will dissipate with the following experiences of the directors. This blurring includes the responsibility of each director and the extent of its contribution to the film, especially since we are at a time when we know how documents are made and according to any mechanisms and any policies, especially as they come under the auspices of productive bodies that are keen to control and control all stray and incoming.

If we take the film with its technical trucks, it may fall into the film institutes exam. Fortunately, there are no strict standards controlling art. There is spiritual, atmosphere and ability to capture all this in the language of the image … These are things that are sometimes difficult for the great directors to obtain. So what about that ability to link your personal story to the stories of others around the world, and this is what the largest Hollywood capabilities fail at times.

Most likely, the “Oscar” that the film received is the culmination of effort, suffering and courage, not in honor of a cinematic talent that is originally limited. All this cannot be separated from the hope that the film broadcasts despite everything, and this is a topic that brings together more than separation. Hope that there will be a solution one day, and the solution will be through dialogue and convergence.

Basil Adra, sometimes paid his skinny body, the price of the shot that condemns his oppressor. He went to the ground under the feet of the military, not afraid of their weapons. With his embodiment, he won the American award, as the world is more required with these people, and turning around their direction has more harsh conditions that amount to “their demand” to invest in the self. And to obtain the “Oscar” from which Arab cinematographers and non -Arab cinemas are deprived of a higher affairs, this means that the world wants from these steps further than just a good movie.