No Other Land
It’s not every day you have a quartet of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers collaborating to document daily life in Masafer Yatta, West Bank, among death threats and de rigueur antisemitism accusations, for the indefensible crime of showcasing everything as is.
A camera is mightier than the gun. Palestinian activist and journalist, Baser Adra has been recording his family’s life under occupation as footage since the age of 15 and is apprehensive of growing into his father’s intrepid shoes (despite showing full potential). The rest of the team includes Yuval Abraham, Israeli investigative journalist, Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian field researcher and human rights defender, and Rachel Szor, Israeli cinematographer, editor and director.
After losing a 20-year battle in a court that’s not theirs, the villagers of Masafer Yatta resist forced eviction under dubious laws, because, as they plead to deaf ears, they have no other land.
An unlikely friendship begins between Yuval, who fights against the injustices being carried out in his name, and Baser, who isn’t sure if his new friend will turn up the next day to fight the good fight. There is no sensationalism, only stark reality that turns into a sense of unreality.
Despite the anger, helplessness, and growing incredulity at his nationality, the villagers welcome Yuval, showering him with the same hospitality as they would any other guest. Perhaps, in their generosity, they show the world there’s fleeting hope for how things can be, if only the world lets them.
For a movie that concluded filming in October 2023, before an artificial war timeline was declared, you watch with growing trepidation the glassy eyes of the perpetrators, threatened by rudimentary buildings and willing to carry out demolition orders on schools with the children still inside.
There is a scene with a displaced little girl watching TV inside a cave, where an insurance commercial promises protection for the happy onscreen family. Another has a matriarch brandishing a stick with supreme courage to ward off the evildoers wishing harm on her loved ones. Baser laments that it doesn’t matter if he went to university, there’s no work and he cannot rise above stripped-down identities. Yuval wonders if we can act when moved by something or do we simply watch and forget?
Watching and witnessing is the first act, especially when it is made so difficult. Two related google searches on ‘where is no other land screening’ and ‘where is all we imagine as light screening’ yielded two very different results (maybe we shouldn’t be too enthusiastic about AI yet – also, you’ll find them both at BFI Southbank).
An AI overview was not available when searching for No Other Land screenings but available for All We Imagine as Light.
Do try and catch the limited distribution of this movie in a theatre near you while you still can. It’s one that all other lands must watch.
