Mahssomim
Israel,
2003, 80 min
Shown in 2004
CREDITS
- dir
-
Yoav Shamir
- prod
-
Amit Breuer, Edna Kowarsky, Elinor Kowarsky
- scr
-
Yoav Shamir
- cam
-
Yoav Shamir
- editor
-
Era Lapid
- source
-
Eden Productions , 84 Arlozorov St., 62647 Tel Aviv, Israel. FAX: 972-3-5236076. EMAIL: nasto@netvision.net.il.
- gga award
-
Golden Gate Award—Documentary Feature
OTHER
The West Bank and Gaza Strip have been under Israeli military authority since 1967. Palestinians, when traveling from one village or city to another, must pass through checkpoints created to protect Israelis from suicide bombers. There are now over 200 roadblocks. Employing classical cinema verité style, and a high-tech camera to minimize his presence, the filmmaker uses to his advantage the fact that he is a young Israeli male, thus making it easier to approach the soldiers with remarkable intimacy. Astonishingly, both sides are portrayed as victims. The roadblocks are the first meeting point between two sides of the conflict, a crucial meeting point with rules and laws of its own. On the Israeli side, young soldiers still in their adolescence find themselves faced with impossible situations. On the Palestinian side, the day-to-day struggle and humiliation they endure as they pass through the roadblock fuels the hatred towards their Israeli neighbors. Much has been written about the corruption of the conqueror brought about by extended occupation. The cumulative effect of these daily encounters, which is forced upon both sides, appears unbearable. The reality of the checkpoints illustrates in shockingly tangible scenes that intimidation and compassion are curiously arbitrary.
—Janis Plotkin
FACTOID #49
Some of the filmmakers whose works screened in our New Directors series include Cinda Firestone, Susan Sontag, Shu Shuen, Conrad Rooks, Shirley Clarke, Sandro Franchina, and Mitsuo Yanagimachi. This series, which began in 1965, was a predecessor to the New Directors series at Lincoln Center, which started in 1971.
