As I write this non-review-review of a documentary on the West Bank in the Occupied Territories, Israel is engaging in military conflicts with Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Yemen. Iran just launched retaliatory bombing of the airbase in Israel.
Going through what's been happening for the past year is going to be futile because it will need detailed context with how we got here; on the verge of World War III, it would take way too long. As I cover New York Film Festival, which this film is part of, there's a boycott happening against the event because many of the sponsors have been deemed to be pro-Israel donors.
I say this is not a movie review because I'm about to lay down what happens in this very personal documentary and explain what it means at this time and place in the world, not as much about how the film was made and put together. This article is from the perspective of a person living in New York, married to a woman of Jewish descent: this is how I see it from my perspective and no one else's. So please keep that in mind as you read along.
No Other Land, a documentary by a group of Palestinian and Israeli activists, shows what it's like to be living under an apartheid state, in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank. Five years in the making, it documents the ongoing destruction in Masafer Yatta, an area consisting of a small group of Palestinian villages in the South of the West Bank. It focuses on Basel Adra, a young activist (serving as one of the directors of the film) who grew up in the village and has been documenting Israeli incursions since he was a child.
He meets Israeli journalist Yuval (Yuval Abraham who is also credited as a director) in 2019, covering land siege and demolition of the Palestinian inhabitants’ brick and mortar homes on the dry hills by Israeli military, which cites the Israeli Supreme Court ruling that Israel has the right to the land in the Occupied Territories, for building a military training ground. Confrontations ensue.
But it's been like this forever. Basel's dad has been arrested many times in the past. The homes get destroyed, then rebuilt (with great difficulty I might add), destroyed and rebuilt.
They live in constant fear of being evicted or being arrested. The military cuts their water lines, confiscates their generators, and pours cement into the wells; all these actions are documented by Basel and others. Basel, along with his father, are known to the Israeli military officers as troublemakers. They are constant targets for harassment and threats.
Yuval is rightfully enraged by all of the things he sees, done by the Israeli military, by his name. He is an Israeli. At the end of the day, he gets to go home by breezing through checkpoints, using the Israeli citizen only lanes. He gets to shower and sleep in a cushy bed.
On the other hand Basel, about the same age as him, with a law degree, can't get a job, other than manual labor. He needs to tend the gas station when his father gets arrested for protesting, since that's the sole source for the family income.
Yet, it's Basel who comforts Yuval, who tells him to calm down. "You are too enthusiastic. You want to see the change overnight, it won't come tomorrow." After years of living under occupation, people become realists.
The network of resistance is done via phone; neighbors communicate that there's a raid or bulldozers coming to this town or that house, as the military seemingly selects their targets at random. They mobilize to stage a demonstration.
A neighbor gets shot while being evicted from their house. He is paralyzed from the shoulders down. They can’t afford to stay in the hospital. Their home destroyed, they move into the cave (the region is known for its natural caves).
With a small camera, Basel records everything. He uploads it to the web and hopes to get the words out of the struggle. That's all he does, constantly looking at the phone. Hey, two thousand people liked my post.
Their activism sometimes bore fruit and gave a moment of reprieve, like that time Tony Blair toured the region and saw their situation first-hand. And the Israelis backed down their expansion temporarily. Basel's father has a picture with him to prove it.
When they are chilling at night, sharing hookah, the conversation leads to other things between two men. "Do you see yourself having a family?" Yuval asks. Basel hesitates to answer. He is too tired. The years of struggle weigh him down. He is married to his phone, always looking at the likes and responses to his posts about the daily lives of his struggle and the news. He is tired. There's nothing else he can do.
Dominating the Middle East news cycle for a year has been the ongoing indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza since October 7th of 2023 by Israel, in retaliation of the surprise attack from the Hamas militants in Gaza Strip. This emboldened the zionist Israeli settler movement in the West Bank.
Accompanied by Israeli soldiers, the settlers start violently attacking the homes in Masafer Yatta. Basel records his cousin getting shot by a settler. His father gets arrested. The movie ends in early 2024. Basel and thousands of other stories like his still go on. People's suffering is staggering; so is their resilience.
Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor capture something that is so immediate and telling, living under the occupation. The systematic injustice and oppression are well documented in No Other Land. Everything we take for granted, such as a roof over our heads, running water, and electricity, are in constant threat. Plus, the scarcity of economic opportunities, healthcare and restriction of movement, makes the everyday life of people in the West Bank extremely difficult.
Social media serves a very different purpose in the Occupied Territories. Palestinians really count on getting the footage out to the world to show what’s really going on. I had no idea how much they depend on the pressure tactics by us on politicians to improve their lives.
It seems no distributor is picking up this film because of its 'sensitive' nature and fear of offending the Israeli government and its powerful lobby groups, even though No Other Land won the awards at this year’s Berlinale. But injustice is injustice. These people in the film are not actors. The oppression is real. The racist vitriol is real. And I feel it is our (people who've seen the film) duty, to advocate for their plight.
Dustin Chang is a freelance writer. His musings and opinions on everything cinema and beyond can be found at www.dustinchang.com
The film screens this week at the New York Film Festival.