Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 32
  1. #1
    FarangRed
    Guest

    Tears of Gaza -- Film Review

    By Kirk Honeycutt, September 10, 2010 05:52 ET
    "Tears of Gaza"

    Bottom Line: A searing doc shows the appalling impact war has on the innocent.
    TORONTO -- Vibeke Lokkeberg's "Tears of Gaza" raises the question: Can any filmmaker do a film about the Israeli-Palentinian conflict without antagonizing someone? Lokkeberg's film deals with the 2008-09 bombing of Gaza by the Israeli military. Her strategy is to focus on the horrific impact this has on civilians -- mostly women and children; in other words, how war affects the innocent. Lokkeberg, a Norwegian actress, author and filmmaker, has scrubbed away all context, political or otherwise. This could be any war descended on an urban population.

    Soldiers expect death and destruction; they've trained for it. Civilians don't know how to react to dead children and bombed homes. "Where can I get forgiveness from?" moans a man who has lost a child.

    "Gaza" is gut-wrenching to watch -- perhaps the ultimate anti-war film -- but will the word "Gaza" in the title stop people? Films, whether docs or features, don't generally talk about war from this perspective. Now we have a film that does, but Middle Eastern politics might contaminate it. The Arab world might embrace the film, especially coming from a Westerner, and Israel and its supporters might shun it. So a compelling film about war will not be as widely seen as it should.

    The film opens in November in Norway and could get playdates elsewhere in Europe, but in North America, it undoubtedly will play only festivals. The response at those festivals will be interesting to watch.

    On one hand, the film is pretty rough and disorganized, like war itself. Lokkeberg says she wants to view war through the stories of three young people, but these stories swiftly get lost.
    A Palestinian boy stands at the seashore, recalling visits to the beach with his father, now dead, "murdered" as he puts it. Tears come to him. He says he wants to become a doctor so he can treat those injured by the Israelis.

    Two other girls tell of their tragedies and injuries, too, but the film keeps cutting to footage shot by several Palestinian cameramen during the bombings. After years of deprivation and economic embargo, Gaza clearly lacks the infrastructure and resources to deal with the carnage.

    Instead, neighbors bravely rush to fallen buildings emitting fire and smoke to rescue helpless victims. A pathetic hose makes do as few fire trucks exist. Broken and dead bodies are pulled from rubble. Children emerge with mangled limbs or holes in their heads. Sobbing women clutch their faces and beat their sides.

    Cars are found to transport the wounded to overwhelmed hospitals. Phosphorous bombs shower people with tiny blobs of fire that ignite flesh.

    A father cradles a young daughter who happily eats her food. Then he lifts her clothes to show the scarred flesh. In a hospital, the staff pulls up the clothes on children's corpses to show bullet wounds that come from close range. These children were executed, the staff insists, as the camera bears witness.

    Back in the present, a bachelor party and then wedding doesn't lack for cheer, but the bridegroom feels sadness. His immediate family is all gone, and he is broke. On the day of his wedding, he sees no future for himself.

    Children and a few adults tell their tales of terror to the camera. A woman looks for clothes to buy for her daughter at a street market but says the goods, which come through tunnels to Gaza, are too expensive.

    It's not clear, but presumably Lokkeberg acquired the war footage while she shot the sequences in the aftermath, when things returned to "normal." Only there is no normal. Extreme trauma is in everyone's face. These are beaten, fatalistic, vengeful people. They curse their opponents, but even these curses ring hollow.

    Lokkeberg eventually finds her way back to her protagonists as the film concludes. The boy repeats his desire to become a doctor, and a girl says she wants to become a lawyer to "defend my homeland."

    The remainder of these lives will be lived in response to the bombings: the bridegroom without parents or money and the children who desire to somehow rescue their remaining relatives and neighbors from suffering. Wars have a way of never ending. This is the strongest single idea one takes away from the emotionally devastating "Gaza."

    Venue: Toronto International Film Festival
    Production: Nero AS
    Director-screenwriter: Vibeke Lokkeberg
    Producer: Terje Kristiansen
    Directors of photography: Yosuf Abu Shreah, Saed Al Sabaa, Marie Kristiansen
    Music: Lisa Gerrard, Marcello De Francisci
    Editors: Svein Olav Sandem, Terje Kristiansen
    Sales: AB Svensk Filmindustri

    Tears of Gaza -- Film Review

  2. #2
    FarangRed
    Guest

  3. #3
    I'm in Jail
    Butterfly's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Last Online
    12-06-2021 @ 11:13 PM
    Posts
    39,832
    Israel is a fascist state, and they are committing genocide with the full support of the west

    nothing change,

  4. #4
    Thailand Expat
    taxexile's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    19,334
    palestinians, are those the people that were jumping for joy on sept 11th when the planes crashed into the twin towers.

    palestine, is that the country that the rest of the arab world dont want anything to do with and refuse to help or aid in any way.

    palestine, is that the country run by an iranian/syrian backed bunch of hardline propagandists who vehemently oppose peace, keep lobbing bombs into israel, and couldnt give a damn about the palestinian people whose rights they claim to be fighting for.



    palestine, the pariah of the arab world,
    Last edited by taxexile; 15-09-2010 at 10:19 PM.

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat
    Takeovers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Last Online
    Today @ 04:41 PM
    Location
    Berlin Germany
    Posts
    7,056
    Quote Originally Posted by taxexile
    palestine, is that the country run by an iranian/syrian backed bunch of hardline propagandists who vehemently oppose peace, keep lobbing bombs into israel
    Don't you know that truce means Israel should not shoot back?

  6. #6
    I am in Jail

    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Last Online
    22-11-2011 @ 08:27 AM
    Location
    Christian Country
    Posts
    15,017
    Egypt is nice to them...
    That movie trailer has no context; it looks like the bombing is indescriminate. Meh, what do you expect from a lefty Norwegian. Wait, weren't Norwegians Nazi sympathisers?

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    38,456
    Quote Originally Posted by taxexile
    palestine, is that the country run by an iranian/syrian backed bunch
    Nope, thats Gaza. Much bigger radicalism problem than the rest (majority) of Palestine, but the film above helps explain why.

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat
    taxexile's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    19,334
    Nope, thats Gaza
    oops, correct !!

  9. #9
    I'm in Jail
    Butterfly's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Last Online
    12-06-2021 @ 11:13 PM
    Posts
    39,832
    Israelis are racist scums, why is the UN security council not uniting against the US and Israel is a mystery, oh wait !!!!

  10. #10
    Part time poster
    slimboyfat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Last Online
    19-02-2024 @ 07:19 AM
    Location
    BANGKOK / Kanchanaburi
    Posts
    9,430

  11. #11
    Dan
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by taxexile
    palestinians, are those the people that were jumping for joy on sept 11th when the planes crashed into the twin towers.
    No, that was the French.

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat
    Stinky's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Next door to digit
    Posts
    11,174
    Quote Originally Posted by slimboyfat View Post
    No, that's Gazza

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat
    Takeovers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Last Online
    Today @ 04:41 PM
    Location
    Berlin Germany
    Posts
    7,056
    Quote Originally Posted by sabang
    Nope, thats Gaza. Much bigger radicalism problem than the rest (majority) of Palestine, but the film above helps explain why.
    Confusing cause and effect?

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat Boon Mee's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Last Online
    13-09-2019 @ 04:18 PM
    Location
    Samui
    Posts
    44,704
    Sounds like a real tear-jerker I'm sure...

  15. #15
    Thailand Expat
    keda's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Last Online
    17-12-2010 @ 12:06 PM
    Posts
    9,831
    Nothing wrong with Gaza that couldn't be cured by removing Satan's ideology from the equation.

  16. #16
    Thailand Expat MrG's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    2,955
    Nothing that couldn't be cured by removing from the equation the thuggish brutality inflicted as national policy by Israel.

    To wit:
    UN experts: Israel flotilla raid broke int'l law - World news - Europe - msnbc.com

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat
    keda's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Last Online
    17-12-2010 @ 12:06 PM
    Posts
    9,831
    Imho it would've been less dishonest to say what you mean, that Israel should be removed, rather than couch it in terms of 'thuggish brutality'.

  18. #18
    I'm in Jail
    Butterfly's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Last Online
    12-06-2021 @ 11:13 PM
    Posts
    39,832
    Israel is a dangerous terrorist state, like their many neighbors

    the sooner Israel is put on a leach, the better

  19. #19
    Thailand Expat
    keda's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Last Online
    17-12-2010 @ 12:06 PM
    Posts
    9,831
    If as you claim Israel is a dangerous terrorist state like its many neighbors, then why do you single out Israel for the leash?

    Can't be because you can't stomach its existence, surely not!

  20. #20
    I'm in Jail
    Butterfly's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Last Online
    12-06-2021 @ 11:13 PM
    Posts
    39,832
    ^ the other states are not busy destroying their neighbors and killing innocent civilians

  21. #21
    Thailand Expat
    Takeovers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Last Online
    Today @ 04:41 PM
    Location
    Berlin Germany
    Posts
    7,056
    Quote Originally Posted by Butterfly
    the other states are not busy destroying their neighbors and killing innocent civilians
    Bullshit of the highest level.

    Israels neighbours are on the record for publicly stating the will to destroy Israel for decades. Fortunately at least Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties later on.

  22. #22
    Thailand Expat
    keda's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Last Online
    17-12-2010 @ 12:06 PM
    Posts
    9,831
    We'll find out the value of those 'peace treaties' as soon as Israel shows any sign of weakness.

  23. #23
    Thailand Expat MrG's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    2,955
    Quote Originally Posted by keda View Post
    Imho it would've been less dishonest to say what you mean, that Israel should be removed, rather than couch it in terms of 'thuggish brutality'.
    No, I said exactly what I meant, not what you want it to be. Man up and deal with it on the terms offered and try to stop inventing your own facts.

  24. #24
    Thailand Expat
    keda's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Last Online
    17-12-2010 @ 12:06 PM
    Posts
    9,831
    Don't need to invent anything. You used the standard format that falls short of what you actually mean to make yourself sound like a fair and impartial moderate. And no need to get all righteous about it, it's not like this was your first post on the board or on this issue.

    Just to bring you up to scratch, it's ok if Israel exists but she must return the stolen land and be punished for stealing it from those that won't rest till she's destroyed...or let's talk about her thuggish brutality whilst fairly and impartially making no mention of rockets fired intentionally at Jewish civilian areas...or bawl your eyes out when a Palestinian child is inadvertently killed, but not when Jewish children are willfully murdered...or revile the djoos for acts of genocide when it is the other way around and if the followers of the dysfunctional megalomaniac had their way the Jews would be wiped out...could go on but point made, even if you do wince at the truth.

    Oh go on then, throw a tantrum.

  25. #25
    I am in Jail
    Mr Earl's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Last Online
    23-08-2021 @ 06:47 PM
    Location
    In the Jungle of Love
    Posts
    14,771
    Quote Originally Posted by MrG View Post
    Nothing that couldn't be cured by removing from the equation the thuggish brutality inflicted as national policy by Israel.

    If Israel were suddenly removed from the planet the 1200 year old power struggle between Islamic fanatics would continue with glorious bloodshed.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •