Laikals
The greatest movie ever made..!
Freaktana
A Major Disappointment
Melanie Bouvet
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
poe426
What an eye-opener- Stone Age politics, as seen through the eyes of children... "We were like a knot that could not be undone," our thirteen-year-old guide tells us... referring to his dead childhood friends. "The beautiful places, they take you away," he says wistfully at one point. "If only Allah would send an avenging angel..." Make room for more crowding... "... it's all the same dog." Heavy-handed politics, to be sure: stone-throwing versus automatic weapons, kids ducking and running for cover whenever their "betters" decide to cut loose with a burst- and, most shocking of all, the release of poison gas on a defenseless populace. This last was a new one on me. (Not new in the sense that I hadn't already read A HIGHER FORM OF KILLING or seen documentary footage of its use before, but new in that I'd never heard of it being used in this particular situation.) "In the end I am nothing," the kid who has been hammered into submission offers: "All of life is nothing..." "I want to leave this life," he concludes. "He is from nowhere," someone says at one point. "May God enlighten both sides."
kristoffe brodeur
The most interesting thing about films like this is that I too make films about the world. I got the knack for it after I was in NYU, but for performance art, then to finish in Socio-linguistics. I make films about poverty, gross distortions of wealth vs. broken down humanity, just like this but not as grande a scale. The first thing that struck me was the child in the beginning playing hot dog in-front of the camera for attention and saying things to egg on his friends. Through the film he is first disjointed, immobilized, and then slowly torn to pieces.Seeing the people in such chaos and poor conditions could make anyone hope for the best in their situtation. What we don't see is suicide bombers, the Arabic countries attacking on all fronts and creating a hopeful holocaust again after WWII. I think it is terrible what is happening to these Arabic people because they are being used as a chess piece, and they're only a rook. They don't even realize it.It's not about holy land, it's about racial pride and land ownership and everyone cries for both sides. If the world gobbled up Israel and Palestine along with Lebanon and you name it, we'd all be in a more peaceful state. That is until someone notices there's no fake thing to fight for, and then someone else's nation state gets hammered by all sides.The rich and powerful countries always play their dirty games of power in a metaphorical state in tiny places like this. We are billion strong and yet there's nothing we can do to stop it. No one has the power to stop the largest forces in the world, which are connected to money, not land. To stop this type of atrocity, you'd have to give up the internet, microwave ovens, and cheap oil, gas, haircare products, and your sneakers would have to look poor.Who'se first in line to give that up? Anyone?
captbeefheart6
Those that have posted negative reviews somehow managed to make several interesting mistakes that suggest that they too are cherry-picking the facts; (1) they somehow just blunder right over and completely ignore the fortified Jewish-Settlements built in the Palestinian-Territories. Remember that when they complain about this documentary ignoring their litany of complaints. (2) Others complained about the poison gas rumors, I don't know if its true or not, but those who claimed no proof was provided evidently weren't watching when the doctor from Doctors Without Borders provided her diagnosis and video footage of the affected people going through whatever it was they were going through was presented. Remember that when they complain about this documentary ignoring their litany of complains. Further more, this documentary was not intended to provide a clear and concise look at the conflict going right back to 'the beginning' and providing a clear and concise look at all the atrocities, crimes/war-crimes, forced removal from land, etc that all parties have committed – you want that go watch PBS, Frontline, the BBC or something. It was meant to go look at the people living in the Gaza Strip, and see who they were, what their lives were like, what they live through, etc. There is no way to justify the intentional & deliberate killing of civilians, to even attempt to is give up all claims to humanity, and this is a standard we must apply to all of us. Finally while I consider myself a pacifist, I don't know how long I'd be able to continue denouncing all forms of violence from my Parisian-café while Nazi-German troops patrolled the streets, or while selling newspapers on a street-corner in the Gaza Strip and peoples homes are demolished and refugee camps are established so that those who have a rather odd interpretation of their religion can take other peoples land for themselves. (Note: I do not intended to compare Nazi-Germany with Israel and its Jewish-Settlements, if you see it other wise then I apologize. It is merely to provide a historical example of which there is little or no argument over the validity of, i.e. the French-Resistance)
philo_lund42
Not only is this film a great example of verite documentary film-making, but it has the courage to take a moral stand and point of view in this extremely controversial conflict. At a time when almost all mainstream media has chosen to forget that the Israelis are militarily occupying the Palestinian Territories, "Gaza Strip" steps forward and pulls out all the stops to show the reality that gets left out of major news reporting.Following a free-form thread of characters and events, the films starts out through the eyes of a 13-year-old paper boy in Gaza. He resurfaces throughout the film and provides a base of narration that carries us through the entire length of the Gaza Strip, from Gaza City to Raffa and Khan Yunis. The scenes in this film are each powerful on their own, but together they are a bleak testimony of the horror of occupation, and a cry for freedom.
