Great film, but a few things bothered me.

I do not know if the translation made you think that Gibreel was told to say the lines, but personally, being able to watch without translation, it was so natural and normal, it is just a small kid wondering and questioning...the tone, the voice and the words can show that it came out naturally.

the sheep was killed to be eaten, obviously, but I think that if you remember when they showed Gibreel in the shower, the father said his skin is so sensitive, I wish it thickens so that he can bear the situation around. kids living in a situation like that lose the meaning of their childhood. I mean, without being driven to the protest or shown the killing of an animal, their fathers and many times themselves, are being dragged from their homes to jail, or they are being attacked in their own village. Leaving Gibreel at home, won't save him from seeing or going through horrible stuff.

For your final point, He didn't show that all Israelis are bad. I mean he showed activists who are working with them, his friend Yisrail who was injured during the movie and who took his kids to the sea at the end, and people who helped them with the court procedures. Honestly, I was surprised. I know that there are activists against Israel's violence and occupational acts, but to see that in a personal documentary like this, it just showed a humane aspect that is never shown in other types of media we're usually exposed to.

reply share

add reply

formatting help

4. He talks as if all Israelis are bad people, or as if all of them work for the Israel Defense Forces.

It's mandatory to join the IDF in Israel, except for the Haredi Jews, and a few anti-war or pacifist protesters. The Haredi don't go to jail, the others often do.

There is a schism with the Haredi and the wider Jewish population, partially over this issue, but also the Haredi are often on state welfare and all they do is read the Torah and produce children but I will be the first to admit I don't entirely understand the situation, only to note there is one and these seem to be points of contention.

In any case, it's not entirely incorrect for people to believe that most Israelis have worked for the IDF.

reply share

add reply

formatting help

1. Yeah, when the son was asking why they didn't stab the Israeli soldier, for example, struck me as disingenuous. Like it was being staged, or at least reenacted, for the camera.

2. Sorry, you lost me here. Yet again, someone complaining about killing animals (for food) in film, when most of the other footage is of human on human violence. A man is killed on camera, for God's sake. Did you sleep through that part?

~.~
I WANT THE TRUTH! http://www.imdb.com/list/ze4EduNaQ-s/

reply share

add reply

formatting help

A child making sense of the turmoil he lived in was perfectly natural and skilfully captured. Without a doubt the film centred on his youngest, but he even said he wanted to look at this world through his eyes.

People seem to be detached from reality when it comes to food/meat. Are you a vegan or do you only like eating meat if it comes covered in breadcrumbs or between a burger bum already. He clarified at the time in the film, that he accepted he would have to let his children see the harsh realities of the world in order to face and deal with them. It might not hurt people to see an animal slaughtered as it's incredibly ironic to hear of people who wouldn't hurt an animal, but don't mind them being mechanically slaughtered and packaged elsewhere, in often terrible conditions.

The war zone your referring to was his home. It's where him and his family lived. It's not really a choice when you have the SS, sorry I mean Israeli army travelling in to terrorise unarmed civilians (women and children) at night by taking the children. Truly despicable tactics. He did point out Gemile would be the future of the battle for Palestinians.

Final point is make, having actually been to Israel a few times (I'm neither Jewish or Muslim). The people I have spoken to often say the same thing. The problem is not with most reasonable people. It's the hardliners in charge. It's easy to forget that Jews and Muslims both live in Israel and have done for a long time. It's terrible what these hardliners are doing, it's fascist and as is often said the equivalent of apartheid. Hopefully in time more reasonable government will recognise this as stop these heinous crimes. Shooting unarmed protesters, just asking to be left alone is about as disgusting an act as can be commited. I'd like to sit with that soldier and watch schindlers list and then this broken cameras film. What a betrayal to a people who know as well as anybody what it's like to be seen as worthless and less than human in terms of expend ability.

That said I found this documentary to be extremely moving, and the fact it was co produced by an Israeli to give hope to the future. To anyone who would take from this a hatred towards Israel. Please do more research and see that it's quite simply a vile government/military aswell as some zealot Orthodox Jews that seem intent on lashing out on these poor people. The more young Israelis that see this the better.

reply share

add reply

formatting help

1. The way his son Gibreel talks about the Israeli soldiers. It felt like he was being told to say those things. Now, granted, growing up in a situation like that; What could he do? Take the Holocaust for example; I'm sure many Jews, kept their identity a secret to avoid being killed. But it just felt like he was either being told to say those things, or he was questioning his surroundings.

The kid was growing up seeing the violence of the occupation every single week. Seeing his friends and family attacked by the invaders every single week. Every. Single. Week. Of. His. Life. He didn't need to be coached. Kids aren't as stupid as people like to pretend they are. He knows what he's seeing is wrong, he knows he doesn't like it, he knows he wants something done about it.

3. Taking Gibreel, at the age of five, to the middle of a war zone. One question. Why? I could understand if that was where he was living, but, he was driven there. Again, at such a young age, why put him at risk?

His country, his land, is occupied. He's Palestinian, he's part of an occupied people, this is his people's struggle, he has the right to see it and learn about it. It's not like they had him out in the thick of it; he was just in the car watching.

4. He talks as if all Israelis are bad people, or as if all of them work for the Israel Defense Forces.

What would you think if you were growing up under a vicious occupation, and all you ever saw of the other people was the soldiers who brutalized your family and friends on a weekly basis?

BTW, I am not Israeli, Jewish, nor am I anti Israel/Jewish. I have friends who are Jewish, and I know people who have been to Israel.

Being anti-Israel and being anti-Jewish is not the same thing, any more than being anti-Ku Klux Klan and being anti-white are not the same thing. I'm anti-Israel and not anti-Jewish. And I know Jews who are anti-Israel because they identify themselves with humanity rather than with some colonial apartheid state that happens to be run by Jewish extremists.

"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."
- Voltaire

reply share

add reply

formatting help

That scene where Gibreel asks Emad those questions were increeiblyyyyy cliche and so staged. You could tell by the editing and how he stuttered in the first sentence, like he was trying to remember a line.

reply share

add reply

formatting help