[5 BROKEN CAMERAS (2011)]
Israel is the most shameful country on Earth.
But America is not far behind.
Israeli soldiers are cowardly, repugnant beasts.
With their high-tech weapons.
It is the same for America.
The Jews of Israel who occupy the Palestinian West Bank are disgusting semblances of human life.
They need their walls.
They need to steal land.
Oh, sounds very progressive for the cause of Zion.
So very brave that these automata in their yarmulkes move in to the olive fields of Arabs.
They set the olive trees on fire.
That sounds like an outrageous claim.
But it is nothing compared to kidnapping children.
The Israeli military kidnaps children in West Bank villages.
Why?
To try and terrorize these subsistence farmers into ceasing their protests.
And why are these farmers from small villages protesting?
Because their land is being gobbled up little by little.
“Hey, I was using that land…by the way.”
Picking olives.
So the Israeli Humvees roll in at night.
Spielberg’s pathetic imagination could never conjure what documentary filmmaker Emad Burnat captured on film.
Israelis should be puking in the streets and smearing themselves with their own shit…in shame for what their military does in their name.
And America is not far behind.
Israeli soldiers with weak faces knocking on the doors in a West Bank village.
If there are children inside, the children are taken.
It is shock and awe…Stockholm syndrome…terroristic tactics of which Goebbels would have approved.
The weak Jews who move into settlements (concrete apartment blocks) on stolen land.
All they can yell is, “I’ll sue you. I’ll sue you.”
How dare you film me as I move into my new patriotic Israeli home?
How dare you film the scramble of settlers eager to establish false legitimacy?
What kind sick people allow their military to shoot at children?
In this film.
Never a single gun among the Palestinians.
The only rocks they throw are when the Israeli stormtroopers roll through their village in an arrogant convoy.
But the children who are shot…
The incessant tear gas…
The stun grenades thrown at people…
These every day occurrences…rather, every Friday.
The villagers of Bil’in protesting a wall.
A nonviolent protest.
And every time (every fucking time) the Israelis disperse the crowd by means of violence.
People die.
People holding nothing but Palestinian flags.
Unarmed.
In the middle of fucking nowhere.
But it’s THEIR nowhere!
It’s where the olives grow.
“Hey…your wall has cut us off from the trees. Our trees are now on your side of the wall.”
This film, 5 Broken Cameras, shows the struggle of a filmmaker who suffered more in making this film over five years than Jean-Luc Godard suffered making films over a lifetime.
And yet, Godard is the best of the Westerners.
The only one with a conscience.
He was in Palestine in the 70s.
No other filmmaker comes close to the integrity of Godard.
Except for Emad “The Real Deal” Burnat.
Immense credit is due to the Israelis who joined the struggle with their Palestinian brothers and sisters.
Co-director Guy Davidi was one.
Immense credit is due to Kino Lorber for releasing this film.
Immense credit is due to Hulu for currently streaming this film.
Last I checked, it was also available on Apple iTunes. Great work, Apple!
Emad Burnat threatens to unseat Abbas Kiarostami as the most relevant Middle Eastern director.
Emad Burnat lays his cards on the table in a metaphorical game of poker with Abdellatif Kechiche.
There are real tears to be cried, do you understand?
I like a good lesbian fuckfest as much as the next bloke, but these are real tears, do you understand, Adèle Exarchopoulos?
We want to see beauty. We want to see stories which mirror our pathetic little lives.
But 5 Broken Cameras shows you hell on Earth.
Palestine.
Norman Finkelstein is a two-face Janus (which is to say, a Janus).
And so am I.
But I am so out of fear.
I am human.
[Finkelstein attacked BDS for not boycotting 5 Broken Cameras. That’s an intel op move. Princeton. Princeton.]
If you’re not afraid to post something, then it’s probably not important.
-PD
paulydeathwish 
Thanks, Paul. Will keep an eye out for this one. Sounds like it really got your blood boiling.
Yeah, every story deserves to sides. But it’s a very powerful documentary of people leading very humble lives. It’s about the love for cinema. But also about the obsessive need to film. To protect oneself in a battle with camera face-level.
This film is so damning. I’m in awe of the filmmaker and grateful for the Israelis who are waking up and getting involved.
Thank you,
Paul
This is interesting. It apparently got rave reviews in Israel, including from right wing papers! “The film was released in Israel in July 2012 and immediately won the Best Documentary Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival, where it competed against another Oscar-nominated film, “The Gatekeepers.” The film also received an award named after the slain Palestinian-Israeli filmmaker Juliano Mer Khamis, at the Cinema South Film Festival in Sderot. In Israel, 5 Broken Cameras received overwhelming positive reviews, with Timeout Israel calling it “a masterpiece” and Israeli film critic Shmulik Duvdevani naming it “the most important cinematic event of the year.” Even Israel’s most popular right-wing newspaper, Israel Hayom, called the film “the best documentary of the year” (2012). Both directors, Guy Davidi and Emat Burnat, also appeared on the cover of the cultural weekend section of Israel’s leading newspaper, Yediot Achronot. In 2013 the film was nominated for the Israeli Film Academy’s award (Ophir Award) for Best Documentary.”
I saw some of that info on Wikipedia. It is a bit perplexing. It’s important to keep in mind that it was codirected by an Israeli. Likewise, there are four producers listed. None of their names sound Palestinian. As to whether any of them are Israeli, i don’t know.
Finkelstein seems to find fault with the BDS movement because he thinks they want to destroy Israel. So there are some interesting mind games going on. What he seems to be saying in that he supports a boycott of Israel based on their treatment of the Palestinians, but that he objects to their movement in that (he claims) they don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist.
My frame of reference is rather small and my response was very emotional. However, we must always remember that even “documentary” filmmakers have the power to create reality particularly through the use of editing (or, as the French call it, montage).
So when we see something in a documentary or even on a news station, we must keep this phenomenon in mind. What seems to be a case of the facts speaking for themselves (a categorical occurrence) may not in reality be so clear-cut.
–Paul
Paul,
Another excellent review on a subject that is hitting the headlines at the moment. Your exposure of Zionism and its role in recent attacks on people who attempt to criticise anyone who defends the Palestinians and opposes the Statelet of Israel which is an Imperialist front amongst a number of Arab States. Zionists are mounting a challenge and using Anti Semitism as a method of ensuring anyone who criticises the Zionist state is Anti semitic. Well done for establishing that attacking Zionism is not attacking or being anti semitic. It correctly exposes the State of Israel for what it is an Outpost of imperialism . Laurence
Yes, exactly! You said it so very well! Thank you!! –Paul