Film Festival Film #4: Tears of Gaza

[bcholmes]

Okay... I'm getting behind in blogging about my films. The last bunch have been pretty intense, and there are some very strong films.

Tears of Gaza by Vibeke Løkkeberg mostly follows the lives of three children in Gaza. Løkkeberg was not able to travel to Gaza herself (because Israel doesn't want documentary filmmakers in Gaza apparently); she had to direct local camera operators from a distance. Mostly it talks about how each child's life has been affected by the 2008 bombing of Gaza (which our Prime Minister called a "measured response" from Israel).

The film is interspersed with footage taken during the attack itself. Scenes of an entire community trying to find survivors after a plane has bombed a building. Scenes of hospital emergency rooms dealing with the wounded. Scenes of people in the hospital at that moment when they've just clearly been told that, yes, both of the children have died. Much of the film is torturous to watch.

The story is a little bit fragmented, and there's no attempt to "explain" the conflict. It merely shows the effects on a war-torn populace, and a handful of children, in particular, who lose a lot in the devastation.

Hard to watch.