A One Mann’s Movies review of “No Other Land” (2024).
Good documentaries generate emotion in the viewer. I defy anyone, regardless of which side of the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian conflict you are on, not to feel emotion on viewing “No Other Land”. There were lots of emotions running through me: pity, shock, sadness, but above all anger.
I have been asked, nay, instructed by the illustrious Mrs Movie Man to keep my own personal views under restraint and just review this film on a completely impassionate basis. Which I will do. But I really think that this is a film that everyone in the world should see so you can form your own opinion. And that goes especially for Trump, Starmer, Putin, Macron and all other major leaders who should watch it from beginning to end.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“No Other Land” Summary:
The documentary follows the local Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra and his visiting Israeli journalist friend, Yuval Abraham, as they document the attempts by the Israeli army to clear the communities of Masafar Yatta to make way for a ‘Military Training Area’.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: NR. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong real violence, threat, language”. This film doesn’t have a US MPAA certificate because it has failed to find any company in the US to distribute it…. which is shameful in itself.)
Talent:
Directed by: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal & Rachel Szor.
Written by: Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal & Yuval Abraham.
Running Time: 1h 32m.
“No Other Land” Summary:
Positives:
- A gripping documentary pieced together from a wealth of amateur footage and footage shot (presumably by either Hamdan Ballal or Rachel Szor) in a very professional documentary manner
- A film that is simply chock full of emotion and ‘Wow, really?’ scenes.
Negatives:
- The subtitles
Review of “No Other Land”:
What is the right way to displace a population?
How do you move people from an area when they can no longer live there? It’s easy to say “oh, that only happens in places like the West Bank”. But it’s not true. I can think of two immediate examples in the UK: in the construction of the Ladybower reservoir in Derbyshire, the villages of Derwent and Ashopton were, by virtue of being in the wrong place in the wrong valley, evacuated and flooded. (In drought conditions, the church steeple and other features become visible). And – as is actually more pertinent to this film – when the British army needed to sequester an area of Salisbury Plain for military training in 1943, the village of Imber was evacuated, never to be reoccupied. Motorways; High-Speed Rail links; airport expansions: there are lots of other examples where the ‘state’ has to move people, who don’t want to be moved, from their homes: often homes that have been lived in for generations.
What makes the events in “No Other Land” different is the way in which this was done. There appears to have been no ‘relocation’ programme: where fleets of buses and removal vans turn up and all of the residents are removed and resettled somewhere else. Instead it seems to have been a random attack on the population’s infrastructure, over many years now, in an effort to make them give up and relocate themselves elsewhere. Can you imagine that happening in your village or town?
Shocking scenes.
No matter which side of the political argument you find yourself on, you can’t not be struck by the policies of the Israeli army in destroying these family homes, apparently without any compassion. The bulldozers seem to appear at random in different parts of the community and residents are given mere minutes to extract their bedding, family pictures, furniture and chickens (though sometimes not pigeons) before the bulldozers raze the building to the ground. An Israeli commander called Ilan struts around imperiously wearing mirrored sunglasses to hide his expression.
Some incidents of destruction seem particularly cruel:
- Demolishing the elementary school while the kids, who were in there learning minutes before, bawl their eyes out outside;
- Confiscating cars and making it illegal for Palestinians to drive in the area;
- Taking a chain saw to a village’s water supply pipe;
- Pouring concrete into the village well;
Worst of all is the shooting of a young man, Harun Abu Aram, during a scurmish over the confiscation of a generator, an incident caught on camera. Harun ends up paralysed from the neck down.
It’s not the only shooting we witness. Caught on camera is the shooting dead in cold blood of an unarmed villager (Basel’s cousin) by an armed Israeli settler. (You ask yourself, was this man ever brought to justice?)
Subtitles.
My one criticism of the film, as it was for “The Brutalist“, are the subtitles. In any foreign language film, the subtitles are vital to understand the narrative. White subtitles are invisible when shown against a white background, which is the case in a number of instances in this film. They need to have simple shadowing on the font to help make them stand out against any coloured background.
Summary Thoughts on “No Other Land”
This is an emotional but brilliant documentary. As Basel says at one point:
“We keep filming everything. And we have to think how to reach more people in different ways”
I can think of no better way to do that than by this film winning the Oscar for Best Documentary. Then, surely, someone will have to distribute it on their platform in America. US audiences should demand it.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “No Other Land”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pI2IXKtlew.
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