Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
This week we turn our gaze to the Palestinian village of Bil’in, where for five years residents fought militarily enforced encroachment on their region by Israeli neighbors, beginning with the erection of an arbitrary border wall. Amateur videographer Emad Burnat began documenting the conflict and protest movement which forever changed life for his family, eventually compiling the story into award-winning documentary 5 Broken Cameras.
Did you get a chance to watch along with us this week? Want to recommend a great (or not so great) film for the whole gang to cover? Comment below or post on our Facebook or hit us up on Twitter!
Next Week’s Pick:
WWII drama Unbroken’s most talked about credit is that of its director, Angelina Jolie, but just as interesting is that of the writers — Ethan and Joel Coen. The Coen brothers have directed nearly all of their scripts, the sole exception being 1985’s Crimewave. But starting with 2012’s Gambit, we’re seeing them shift away from direction, slowing their frantic pace down a bit and letting others take the helm. So it seems an interesting time to visit their 1991 classic Barton Fink, about the struggles of a playwright-turned-screenwriter, and in turn the writing process. Or not. Truth is, I haven’t actually seen it yet, so…
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co!
The Team
James:Even when the truth is right in front of our eyes, it seems little changes. No wonder people feel powerless following recent examples like Eric Garner’s senseless death. Nowadays, anyone can pick up a camera and start filming their version of ‘The Truth’. Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat felt it his duty to document injustice and atrocity in the perhaps vain hope that it would raise awareness and affect some kind of change.
Regardless of its unavoidable political agenda, Burnat’s 5 Broken Cameras is more successful than most documentaries, stripping back artifice and providing a palpable sense of immersion as it charts the peaceful Palestinian protests and their increasingly brutal oppression by the Israeli army in his West Bank village. Simultaneously filming his fourth son’s upbringing provides a strong narrative anchor, highlighting the sad realities of living in such a politically and culturally divisive country.
The sometimes amusing tit-for-tat-style tactics of both sides escalates towards an impending sense of doom as Burnat risks his cameras and his life, capturing the arrests, assaults and eventual deaths of those around him, and offering a sobering reality at odds with the usual cockeyed representation of the complex Middle East crisis depicted in conventional media. (@jconthagrid)
Brendan:The power of art is in its ability to show the humanity of them that we would normally define as ‘other’.
With 5 Broken Cameras, we are able to understand and empathize with a section of humanity that would otherwise be only known to us as anonymous statistics. It’s a sad, often grueling experience as we see the tread marks of violence slowly grind down our central family, until even the somewhat uplifting conclusion is just one more note of grief and loss in a seemingly endless song of such. 5 Broken Cameras is often unpleasant, but that is exactly why it is so important to watch. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
Austin:5 Broken Cameras makes two very important and ultimately successful thematic choices in framing its narrative. The first is paralleling the genesis of the conflict and protests against the birth and early childhood of Emad’s son. The second is that of the five cameras, each destroyed in some way, creating chapters in the story of the Palestinian villagers’ struggle. Even though it’s a documentary cobbled essentially from home videos, there’s an intelligence and art to the storytelling.
Initially while watching, I was acutely aware of its one-sidedness. Clearly, it’s shot, edited, directed, and narrated mostly by a single person with the intention of expressing his worldview. But as I watched, and the weight of repeated injustices continued to accumulate, that suspicion fell away to simply accepting and sympathizing with the simple and honest story of a family swept up into a setting of helplessness and turmoil. (@VforVashaw)
Liam:There has been no better example of a film we have covered that deserves far more than Two Cents. On one hand I want to delve into the ways this film is about bravery and the beautiful persistence of life in the face of oppression. Yet I also want to discuss the horror, the terrifyingly casual way the IDF toss gas grenades not only at adult protesters but at children. Watching the tactics used against almost entirely peaceful protesters, one can more easily understand those extremists resorting to rockets. Live ammunition against words and flags? Finally, I am torn as to art. The fact that this film is on Netflix, and yet in this country no one can be elected without being Pro-Israel in the most extreme manner could be seen as a failure of art. Sure this film is powerful and brilliantly done, but it hasn’t changed a damn thing. That would be blaming art for our own weakness though. The failure lies with all of us who can watch the oppression from the West Bank to Ferguson and simply write it off as not our problem. 5 Broken Cameras is an indictment of us, the audience. (@liamrulz )
Our Guest
Simon Carey:5 Broken Cameras is yet another example of a feature length documentary packing more emotional clout and genuine drama than the majority of movies set around similar themes. Then again, since when has any scripted movie — or mainstream media in general for that matter — ever devoted time to the plight of Palestinian villagers engaging in non-violent protest against the insidious, illegal and unrelenting encroachment onto their land by occupying Israelis? One could talk endlessly about the rights and wrongs of such acts, but perhaps this film’s greatest achievement is championing the idea of standing up for one’s beliefs in the face of futility. In doing so it is a paean to joining together in peace against a violent oppressing force. Furthermore, in a world where the global media’s agenda has shown itself to be pro-scaremongering, politically and nationally partisan and sensationalist for the sake of shits and giggles and increased ratings, 5BC is a fresh reminder that true journalism can be demonstrated simply by one man in the right place pointing one (but eventually five) camera(s) at events and, with deft editing, objectively portraying a situation, and allowing the viewer to derive the message. Essential and inspiring viewing. (Simon Carey)
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