Category Archives: Israel

Movie: Beaufort (2007)

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We all know of a country named Israel, and we are also aware of what the Nazis led by Hitler did to Jews in World War II, but it is a little hard for Japanese people to understand the complexity of what kind of country Israel is today, what is happening in Israel, and what kind of relationship Israel has with their neighbors—the Palestinian National Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Therefore, when Japanese people watch this movie, it is difficult to understand what young Israeli soldiers are doing in Beaufort castle in south Lebanon. Although the Israeli soldiers do not attack anyone in this movie, missiles soar incessantly from somewhere and young soldiers die one after another.

The movie is set in 2000, but this movie is difficult to understand unless you look at the background leading up to it. Since the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli War, Jordan actively accepted the Palestinian refugees driven from Israel; but after the Six-Day War, they changed their direction and expelled Palestinian refugees from Jordan in order to maintain a more neutral alignment. These Palestinian immigrants moved to Lebanon and brought about great chaos in Lebanese politics which had been under a delicate balance between Christians and Muslims; after this, Syria became more influential over Lebanon.

In 1982, with one border secured with the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel that was mediated by the Carter administration, Israel suddenly invaded a chaotic Lebanon and besieged Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. The true intentions were to remove Syria and other Arab influence from Lebanon, convert Lebanon into a pro-Israel nation, and keep Bashir Gemayel—a charismatic, pro-Israel, anti-Syria, young Lebanese leader—in power in Lebanon’s government. Bashir was elected as president in the August 1982 elections, but was assassinated in the following September. Lebanon plunged deeper into civil war as a result of this. Beaufort is a historic castle that was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century and Israel took control of this castle during this fierce battle.

In response to the invasion of the Israel army, a military association called Hezbollah was formed in Lebanon. It was a radical Shia Islamic organization and its main objectives were to found an Iranian-style Islamic Republic in Lebanon and remove non-Islamic influence in that area. It took an anti-Western stance and supported the Israeli extermination; it is said that Iran and Syria supported this. On the other hand, Sunni nations such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt criticized the actions of Hezbollah. Since the 1980s, Hezbollah has attacked facilities associated with the West and Israel that were both within and outside of Lebanon including the suicide bombing on the American Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983, the suicide bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut in 1984, and attacking the Israel Embassy in Argentina in 1992. In the movie, the Hezbollah attacks the Israel army in Beaufort with missiles from a distance.

During the Cold War, America supported Israel and adopted the strategy to make Israel the center of anti-Soviet Union politics within the Arab region, but since 1990, the world situation changed and Iraq became a threat to America. In return for Syria dispatching troops for the Gulf War, America allowed Syria to settle the civil war in Lebanon in Syria’s favor. Thus, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon did not result in what Israel envisioned and, under criticism from the whole world, they proceeded to withdraw from Lebanon. In 2000, Beaufort functioned as the only base and lookout point for Israel in Lebanon, but the Israeli government finally decided to withdraw troops from there.

This movie focuses on the Israeli soldiers who were sent here just after being drafted as teenagers and didn’t understand the international dynamics; since Israel has decided to withdraw, a counterattack is not allowed, but even though the soldiers request to leave the fortress, the reply from headquarters is to just wait. Squad members die one after another while there is no superior officer to depend on. This movie depicts soldiers who have a pessimistic feeling about how their lives are being risked to protect the fortress that will soon be abandoned, are dissatisfied with the inexperienced leadership of the commanding officer who is also young, dream of returning to Israel and being reunited with their lovers, and, through it all, have mutual friendships and encourage each other.

The undercurrent flowing through this movie is the question of, “What was the huge sacrifice of the attack of 1982 for?” With the world believing that the chaos in Lebanon was entirely because of Israel, Israel’s international standing worsened. No country wants to look back on their own past of violent acts that were criticized by other countries as historical mistakes. Hitler from Germany, Franco from Spain, the Dirty War in Argentina, and the Pacific War in Japan are a few examples. Even though these were historic disgraces, they happened and each country chose what they thought was the best option at that time. The Lebanon Civil War may have been a great mistake for Israel whose top priority has been to establish their home country. However, after watching this movie, I honestly hope that the people of Israel who have been struggling to maintain their nation under a complicated balance of power adopt the very best political measures in the future by learning from history.

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Movie: The Syrian Bride (2004)

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Israel played the main role in the production of The Syrian Bride. Israeli Eran Riklis wrote the script with Palestinian Suha Arraf, as well as directed the movie, and most of the actors were Israelis of Palestinian descent. Director Riklis seemed to have an international audience as the target for this movie and made it from the point of view of an Israeli. In other words, even though the word “Syrian” is in the movie title, this movie was made to try to convey an Israeli sentiment to the world.

The setting of this movie is a devout Druze village in the Golan Heights at the border of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. Islam is divided into two main opposing groups, the Shia and Sunni. Sunnis are the majority, while Shiites are estimated to be 10 to 20% of Muslims. Since the birth of the Shia sect, they were generally in the position of the minority against the Sunni majority, and the Shia often formed their group in mountainous areas where enemies couldn’t easily invade in order to protect themselves from being attacked by the majority. Iran is the only country in which Shiites are the majority, but it is said there are a significant number of Shiites in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Pakistan. Over time, the Shia became more and more fragmented. The Druze originated from the Shia, but they differ in doctrine in many aspects; thus, Druze is sometimes called the third sect of Islam, while many Muslims do not consider Druze to be a part of Islam.

This area is complicated politically. In the Third Arab-Israeli War (Six-Day War)—the war between Israel and Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq in 1967—Israel succeeded in a surprise attack and won by quickly occupying the West Bank district of Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, and the Golan Heights of Syria. Since 1981, Golan Heights was put under civilian governance, and Israel gave Israeli citizenship to the Syrians on this land who desired it. Since the inhabitants had a strong sense of identity with Syria, not many people applied for Israeli citizenship, and the result was that they became stateless. The people who go to Syria from Golan Heights for reasons such as marriage cannot return to their village under Israeli occupation because once they cross the national border, they automatically become Syrian. International public opinion does not approve of Israel’s occupation of Golan Heights, but Israel is not going to give up Golan Heights because Golan Heights is strategically important and the Sea of Galilee is valuable as a water source.

Since the Six-Day War ended swiftly in the blink of an eye with an Israeli victory, there were some people living in Golan Heights that were separated from their family. The set up for this movie is that the father Hammed is a pro-Syria activist and was just released from an Israeli prison. Since one of his three sons lives in Syria and can’t return to Golan Heights, when they want to talk, the father and son must go to a place called “Shouting Hill,” where people communicate with a megaphone across a short field due to the military border.

Because Hammed’s eldest son married a woman doctor that he met while studying abroad in Russia, Hammed disowns him and the Druze elders in their village banish him. Hammed’s eldest daughter married a man chosen by her father, but she grows distant from her conservative husband, and she is determined to study at an Israeli university to gain her independence. Her eldest daughter (Hammed’s granddaughter) falls in love with the son of a family that is pro-Israel. Hammed’s second daughter is arranged to marry a distant relative—a popular actor now in Syria—and is going to leave for Syria, but since she cannot return to her family once she crosses the border, she is hesitant about the marriage. The second son flies around Italy and France with a stateless passport and conducts business. He is different from the second daughter and the son in Syria in that he has the freedom to travel. Because the eldest son comes back from Russia briefly for his little sister’s wedding, he seems to also have the freedom to travel. Since he is married to a Russian woman, he may have a Russian passport. In other words, the restriction of not being able to come back once one crosses the national border seems to just be for the Syrian national border.

This movie depicts the happenings on the day of the second daughter’s wedding ceremony, and, since the inauguration of the current President al-Assad is being covered on the TV, we can tell that this story takes place in the year 2000. The movie depicts Syrians being excited for President al-Assad’s inauguration, with hope and joy because they believed President al-Assad to be a kind and educated man, unlike his father and older brother. No one at that time could have ever imagined that President al-Assad would make the list of “World’s Worst Dictators” according to American media.

This is a good movie that depicts familial love that is not easy. However, the thing that stood out most in this movie was the desire to express an Israeli sentiment. This movie does not mention the past of the Israeli occupation of Golan Heights at all, and it just depicts the warmness between the people currently living in Golan Heights, regardless of their ethnicity. The Israelis that appear are neither good nor bad guys, simply do their duty, and are just average people. Israel has often been criticized internationally, but those who have decided to live there wish greatly for Israel to be seen positively and work hard to gain international support. A movie is the very best medium to convey Israel’s present condition and the feelings and thoughts of such an Israeli to the world. Director Ari Folman who made Waltz with Bashir stated, “There is complete freedom of expression in Israel. I am permitted to say anything.” Israel’s government seems to even support the activity of moviemakers. Also, there seems to be open exchange of technology with Hollywood, where there are many prominent Jewish Americans. The movie industry of Israel is very active and has produced many good movies. If one can say anything, movies provide the rare opportunity for Israelis who tend to be criticized internationally to raise their voices and express themselves.

Hiam Abbass, the beautiful actress that played the eldest daughter, is a Palestinian from Israel, and most of her activity is in Europe. She stated clearly in an interview, “It is unproductive if we obsess over the past. The important thing is how you live from now on.” Palestinian Makram J. Khoury, who played the bride’s father Hammed, acquired Israeli citizenship after repeated deliberation. Israel respects him, and Khoury flourishes as a top actor of Israel. Israel wants to reward those who have chosen Israel.

Obsessing over the past/history is one way to think about peace in the Middle East, but another way is to look toward the future. Israeli citizens wish from the bottom of their hearts that more people will understand the situation Israel is in. I think this wish is the background of Israel’s thriving film world.

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Movie: The Human Resources Manager (2010)

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This movie was made by Eran Rikilis, a man who jumped to being one of the top directors in Israel after his The Syrian Bride.

A female migrant worker at a large Israeli bread factory in Jerusalem dies at a market from a suicide bombing, but is left at the morgue unclaimed by any relatives. One journalist gets wind of this and threatens to write a story focusing on the inhumanity of large companies. To avoid bad PR, the female company president of the bread factory decides to bury the body in the deceased’s homeland and she orders the head of the human resources department on a business trip to take care of it. The rude reporter who got the scoop on the story accompanies in order to verify.

The head of the human resources department is in a situation where his family is on the verge of collapsing, living apart from his wife and daughter. Though he was planning on working as a field trip driver for his daughter’s school to be able to interact with his daughter, it falls through. The human resources manager and the reporter arrive together at the dead woman’s homeland, but her husband cannot take the body because they are divorced. Her teenager son, a delinquent, was driven out of his house and now lives on the streets with a group of friends. On the human resources manager’s journey accompanying the son to visit the boy’s grandmother in a village 1000 kilometers away, many unexpected things happen.

Israeli movies can be roughly divided into two categories. The first includes strongly political movies such as Waltz with Bashir, Beaufort, and Ajami, which are well known in Japan; the second depicts the life of ordinary people living in Israel, such as The Band’s Visit and Jellyfish. Jellyfish depicts the gloomy feelings of the younger generation who, separated from the founding generation who experienced the Holocaust, don’t clearly understand the significance of the founding of the nation. In this movie, the focus is on the psychology of the human resources manager who is unsatisfied with the situation of his family, human relations, and job. Like Jellyfish, the lives of foreign workers who are often neglected by the people of Israel are depicted.

Originally in Israel, low-paying manual labor jobs were left for Palestinians. However, with the increase in Palestinian suicide bombings, Palestinian segregation policies were instated that made it difficult for Palestinians to enter the country; therefore, foreign workers were hired in order to fill these manual labor jobs. The ignoring of or perhaps cold gaze toward foreign workers can be observed in any country and is not be limited to Israel, but perhaps the wariness and condescending attitude towards Palestinians from Israel carried over to these foreign workers that succeeded these jobs.

In this movie, Eran Rikilis characteristically pushes a strong theme to the front, like in The Syrian Bride. The theme here is to show the goodwill of Israel in an international context. The human resources manager sets out for the deceased employee’s native land for his job, but gradually his understanding of and sympathy for the country in which she was born deepens. As a consequence, the woman’s family wants her to be buried in Israel as the home country she chose. Also, his daughter insists that he forget about being a driver for the school field trip and instead take good care of this woman’s dead body.

What country was the victim of the suicide bombing born in? Even now, bureaucracy and bribes leftover from a socialist administration remain in the country. The capital is crumbling and lifeless, and street kids without hope hide in every corner in the neighborhood. Everyone believes in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Horse transportation still remains in poor, desolate villages. The movie doesn’t explicitly specify the country, but the audience gradually understands it is Romania. Why is it Romania?

Many Jews lived in Romania. They suffered from the Holocaust of World War II like Jews who lived in other countries, but it wasn’t as known as the Holocaust in Poland and Czech Republic. Because the Holocaust in Romania was not done by the Nazis of Germany, it was ignored by the anti-Nazi persecutions. There were massive killings of Jews in Romania by the hand of Romanians, but this was kept in absolute secrecy and denied by the socialist government over the next 40 years; in the 2000s, the topic of the Holocaust of Jews in Romania began to be officially acknowledged.

The relationship between Romania and Germany during World War II was complicated. Because they were at war with the Soviet Union over land, Romania allied with the German Axis in World War II, but an anti-Germany attitude there gradually increased over time, and Romania changed their alliance to the side of the Allies when signs of Germany’s defeat began to be seen. In 1944, Romania attacked the Czech Republic, which was occupied by Germany at that time. Jewish persecution gradually became visible around 1940, but Jewish persecution depended on the political situation of the government at that time and the severity varied over the course of World War II as well as from area to area. In addition, it is not entirely clear who spearheaded the massive killings of Jews; there was conflicting information about various local Romanian leaders, Nazis, or the Soviet Union being responsible. After the formation of a socialist government after World War II, important intelligence may have been destroyed by the secretive government. The 1941 Odessa massacre is the most well-known, but even still does not appear to have much documentation.

There were many Romanian Jews that immigrated to Israel, but, while there are many documents that have been saved and examined about the German Holocaust, the Holocaust in Romania remains as an unresolved issue. However, this movie by Eran Rikilis does not have an accusatory tone. The dead woman called her home village in Romania the “end of the earth” and left, moved to the city, pursued an engineering degree from the university, and, still not satisfied, tried a life in Israel. I think this movie wants to convey that Israel has a big heart to accept this woman who chose Israel as her home country.

His thoughts may be summarized as, “You who kill Israelis by suicide bombing, you may think you are killing an Israeli, but you are also killing non-Jewish people living in Israel. Can you stop such an act? The people of Israel are ready to stop fighting.” Internationally, Israel is sometimes criticized for harsh tactics against terrorism. However, Jews from the end of World War II up to today continue to ask, “Why weren’t we able to oppose the Nazi movement of World War II?” or, “Why did people obey the orders of Nazi internment camps without noticing such a movement?” I think what they learned from history may be to be suspicious and vigilant.

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Movie: Ajami (2009)

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Ajami is a neighborhood on the south side of Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest metropolitan area; many Arabs reside there and there is a high crime rate involving drugs and violence. This movie mainly interweaves events depicted from each of the perspectives of three young Muslim Arabs working at a restaurant in Ajami, a Christian Arab who is very influential in the community, and an Israeli police officer. Therefore, even though the same events are depicted, each person’s viewpoint of the event looks different.

Because of the conflict of nineteen-year-old Omar’s uncle with a Bedouin gang, the gang swears to get revenge by targeting the lives of Omar and his younger brother Nasri. Omar requests that Abu Elias, a friend of the boss at the restaurant Omar works at and an influential person in the Ajami neighborhood, have the conflict settled in a Bedouin courtroom, but the court demands a large sum for the settlement (about $50,000 to $100,000); Omar fears he will be killed if he can’t pay this.

Sixteen-year-old Malek is from the West Bank, an autonomous Palestinian territory adjacent to Israel, but crossed the border and is staying as an illegal laborer secretly working at the restaurant in Ajami. He needs approximately $70,000 in order to pay for his mother’s cancer treatment. Abu Elias loves him and gladly covers part of the expenses, but Malek worries how he will come up with the remaining expense.

Binj is a caring, cheerful cook in his twenties, but after his younger brother kills a Jewish citizen and runs away, Binj worries about what to do with his brother’s illegal drugs he is left with. After narrowly passing a household search by the police, Binj throws away most of the drugs and decides to put flour in the bag that held the drugs to look like drugs. However, as a result of snorting the remainder of the drugs, he overdoses and dies.

The Israeli police officer Dando discovers the dead body of his younger brother who had gone missing, and suspects that his younger brother was murdered by an Arab.

Abu Elias is Christian, a minority among Arabs. He, having helped Omar with his predicament, becomes angry when his daughter and Omar get involved romantically since he does not approve of love between a man and woman of different religions.

Malek and Omar discover white powder that they believe to be drugs in Binj’s apartment and attempt to sell the drugs to a drug dealer, but in fact the drug dealer is an undercover Israel police officer and Dando is also watching while concealed. Dando notices that Malek has a high-end watch that looks like the one that belonged to his deceased younger brother and gets very angry.

It is completely different what happens after this, depending on each viewpoint. Also, Malek and Omar have an incorrect idea regarding Binj being killed and who killed him, and this leads to tragedy.

This movie depicts the suffering of Palestinians and their society, but since they are citizens living within the Israeli area, they have different problems than Palestinians living in the autonomous Palestinian district West Bank. I think this point is uniquely depicted in this movie.

I believe there are three things necessary to live happily as a human. One, a loving family; two, friends (social support); and three, a job (economic strength).

All the families that appear in this movie are full of love in their own way. They are not perfect, but each parent wants to protect their children at any cost and the children think cherishing their parents is most important. Even if this loving feeling is universal for humans, the family is a single unit for Arabs. When one person within one family commits a crime or makes a mistake, it becomes the crime of the whole family. In addition, the mother is strong and loving within her family, but because she doesn’t understand the society that has become dominated by males, she can’t handle serious matters so all difficult decisions fall to teenagers Malek and Omar as the “patriarch”.

Social support means friendships, community support, as well as the protection by the power of the government. The Palestinians living in Palestine territories like the West Bank district are surrounded by Palestinian brothers and can fall back on the country of Palestine that is able to protect them even if there is political instability. However, Palestinians living in Ajami cannot rely on Israel, the country they live in. The gangs, even though they are Arabs, target the lives of other Arabs. Because the Israel police don’t intervene in such disputes between Arabs, these people must find a solution within their own community, but this is not easy. Unless they have relatives and friends in Palestine’s West Bank district, escaping to there is not an option. These people with nothing in common except being called Palestinian are not friends. For Palestinians living in Ajami, the only support network is made up of their relatives and any friends made there.

Even if blessed with family and friends, you can’t survive with that alone. In order to survive, you need some occupation in order to eat. Even as an Arab, there are decent opportunities to get a higher education and a job in Israel. As an extreme example, Scandar Copti, a Christian Israel citizen of Palestine descent and one of the two directors of this movie, received a higher education and was able to become a popular movie director.

When this movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, director Scandar Copti said, stirring up controversy, “This movie represents Israel. I am an Israeli citizen, but I don’t speak for the Israeli government because I can’t speak for a government that doesn’t represent me. I am not a team member representing Israel.”

The Israel Cabinet Minister of Culture and Sport, Limor Livnat, said in response, “He wouldn’t have been able to make this movie without Israeli financing, much less walk the red carpet of the Academy Award ceremony. All the other people involved in making this movie think of themselves as Israeli citizens.” Also, Israel’s Legal Forum insisted, “If director Copti doesn’t withdraw his remark, this nomination should be withdrawn. Director Copti should have considered more carefully before receiving money from Israel.” Israeli director Menahem Golan also stated, “I wish director Copti had more respect towards investors. He should at least respect the people who worked with him.”

Director Copti doesn’t want to lose his identity as a minority in Israel, and perhaps he didn’t want an easy solution of “just being nice” for the conflict between Israelis and Arabs. However, I hope director Copti doesn’t forget about the opportunity he has been given as a new superstar in the movie world to improve the situation of Palestinians in Israel. I hope he will not be swayed by words like, “If you hate the people of Israel, don’t accept their money,” or, “Leave if you hate this country.” I hope he can say with an artist’s enthusiasm, “I will keep getting money and keep making better work; I will change history by making movies that can improve the Arab situation.” At least I think he is blessed with talent and opportunity to do so.

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Movie: Paradise Now (2005)

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Paradise Now—a 2005 collaborative movie between France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Palestine—depicts Palestinian problems from the point of view of Palestinians, focusing on two young Palestinian suicide bombers. Director Hany Abu-Assad is a Palestinian who was born in Nazareth, Israel, and immigrated to the Netherlands when he was 19 years old.

This movie takes the stance that young suicide bombers aren’t monsters at all and that they are ordinary young people. Said and Khaled, two young men given this mission, live without hope in the West Bank in Palestine and turn to terrorism, believing that they can get to paradise by participating in terrorist activity. Khaled is a loser who keeps getting fired from his jobs, and feels that the only way to become a hero is to die as a suicide bomber. His close friend Said is smart and popular with girls, but, since he has the past of his father being executed by fellow Palestinians as a “traitor” for being part of a pro-Israeli faction, he believes he must die as a hero in order to remove the dishonor on his family name.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict originated from the United Kingdom’s three-pronged diplomatic strategy that had the purpose of strengthening the UK both during and after World War I. The first prong was the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence in 1915 against the enemy Ottoman Empire; the United Kingdom promised the Arabs under Turkish control independence in exchange for armed uprising against the Ottoman Empire. The second prong was acquiring financial support for the war from the Rothschild’s, a wealthy Jewish merchant family; to do so, the United Kingdom issued a letter of support for the establishment of a Jewish nation in 1917 through their Foreign Secretary Balfour. The third prong was the Sykes-Picot Agreement; the United Kingdom covertly negotiated with their allies, France and Russia, regarding the division of the Middle East region after the Great War. In the end, the Arab and Jewish armies, together as part of the British army, fought the Ottoman Empire in World War I, and Palestine (containing current Jordan) became mandated territory of the United Kingdom.

After World War II, the United Kingdom chose to give up Palestine, a land rife with political instability, and entrust the intermediation of this problem to the United Nations. In the United Nations General Assembly on November 29, 1947, the UN Resolution 181 that proposed that Palestine be divided—56.5% given to a Jewish nation and 43.5% toward an Arab nation—and that Jerusalem be under international control was approved with 33 for it, 13 opposed, and 10 abstentions. However, in February 1948, the Arab League nation members voted in Cairo against the founding of an Israeli nation, and the antagonism between Jews and Arabs in this land became very serious. When the United Kingdom’s mandate over Palestine ended in May 1948, the Jews, based on the UN Resolution 181, declared their independence on May 14, and the nation of Israel was formed. Simultaneously, a large army consisting of five nations of the Arab League (Egypt, Trans-Jordon, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq) invaded Palestine with the goal to prevent their independence, and the First Arab-Israeli War began. The Arab side, which was expected to be victorious, failed to wield its full power due to internal disunity. Israel, after a hard-fought battle where 1% of their population died in action, came out victorious, and 700,000 to 800,000 Arabs who lived on Palestinian land became refugees. Continuing until today, many conflicts have happened on this land including several Arab-Israeli Wars.

In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed with the objective of liberating Palestine from Israel’s control. In 1993, based on the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel, the Palestine Authority was established. This is an autonomous government that is split into the West Bank between Jordan and Israel, and the Gaza Strip on the northeast side of the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.

The setting of this movie is the West Bank on the Jordan River. The future of this area is unpredictable, but currently, there are three districts in the West Bank: one district where the Palestine Authority has administrative power as well as control over the police, one where the Palestine Authority has administrative power while the Israeli army controls the police, and one where the Israeli army has administrative power as well as power over the police. Particularly in the third area, everyday life for Palestinians is highly restricted, with everything including home or school construction, well digging, and road building needing permission from the Israeli army. In all three areas, it is possible for Israel to prohibit transit for Palestinians.

It is clear that director Hany Abu-Assad, as a Palestinian, is addressing the situation Palestinians are in, but this movie is not political propaganda. His way of filming this movie is very cautious and he includes humorous scenes; his goal seems to be for the audience to know the true face of the West Bank territory. His philosophy is perhaps most like that of Suha, the fleeting love interest of the protagonist Said. She is the daughter of a hero of the independence movement, was born in Paris, raised in Morocco, and returned to the West Bank. She opposes violent conflict, and she tries to persuade Said to abandon revenge and implement peace in the Palestinian district by means of a nonviolent human rights movement, but this sentiment fails to reach Said.

At the beginning of the movie, there is a scene depicting a young Israeli soldier menacingly checking Suha’s luggage at a checkpoint on her way back to the West Bank. However, at the end of the movie, there are young Israeli soldiers, much like the one in the first scene, on the bus that Said is riding in order to suicide bomb, but the soldiers on the bus are young men with beautiful smiles and look very kind. They are really beautiful young men. However, these young men are to die soon with Said. This movie is not propaganda saying which side is right or wrong, and I feel the director’s wish for the audience to know the true face of Palestine as best as possible without prejudice.

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Movie: The Band’s Visit (2007)

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The musical group Police Orchestra—sent from Egypt for a concert to promote friendship—arrives at an Israeli airport. Although the Police Orchestra was sent to represent the country, there are only eight band members, and they look nonintimidating and somewhat like toy soldiers. There appears to be no escort or manager. By some mistake, the car also doesn’t come to pick them up, but nobody is upset even when left in Israel without knowing anyone—how come??

The band leader asks the youngest band member (in addition to being young, he has the best English skills, is a good-looking man, and immediately hits on Israeli women) to find the bus route that will take the band members to the town of the concert, but the young man pronounces their destination slightly differently—saying “p” instead of “b”—so the band members board the wrong bus and end up in the middle of the desert. The village they end up in is completely different from their intended destination, but, gentle as ever, the spirits of the band leader and members are not brought down. In the only restaurant in this village, the female owner is there as well as Man A and Man B, who are killing some time. While being treated to a meal by the owner, they learn that the last bus was the one they got off of and that this village doesn’t have a hotel. Even when the owner and these two men learn that the band members are from Egypt, they seem unfazed by this and seem to be even more carefree than the band members, with no dramatic hatred or political arguments. By the effort of the quite charming owner, it is arranged that the band leader and young band member stay in her own home, while the assistant leader and two other people stay in Man A’s home and the other three group members stay in Man B’s home for the night.

This woman in her monotonous life looks a little excited to have musicians come from the civilized country of Egypt and suggests that they drive together in a car to a fashionable place a short drive away. The woman—dolled up for the occasion—and the band leader arrive at an empty, spacious, dreary place, similar to a high school cafeteria. Is this a joke? However, because there is a wooden horse near the cafeteria—just like the ones that were on the rooftops of department stores in the old days in Japan—this place seems to be a place where people excitedly come and eat. While eating, the band leader notices that this woman, though a kind-hearted woman, has a loneliness that is not at first apparent; she spent her younger days without constructively thinking about her future and now is no longer young and realizes that there is no suitable man for her around. The band leader also carries a sad past involving his family, which he has told nobody about. Even though he can’t tell others in Egypt, somehow he is able to openly talk with this woman.

The young band member is excited as he drives to town with Man B of the same generation and his friends to play. However, the two girls that the young man brought along are not very pretty. They go to a disco in town, but the disco is not cool at all, only one-fifth of the size of a high school gymnasium. Man B, with no experience with women, doesn’t know how to be kind and escort the girl that came with them who is hurt from being ignored. The young band member can’t help but advise Man B in this situation.

In Man A’s home where the assistant leader is invited into, the man’s parents, wife, and baby are living together. None of them care that the band members are Arab!! The country of origin doesn’t upset them and they begin to matter-of-factly tell of their ordinary, everyday life. The father is quite a fashionable man and enjoys the occasion by singing a song with a band member during dinner. The father still remembers the beginning of his romance with his wife, but the mother doesn’t seem to remember much. The mother is instead more concerned with their son, Man A, who has been unemployed for a year. Man A and his wife also seemed to have married after falling in love, but their passion seems to have faded and it wouldn’t be surprising if the wife left at any time. I wonder what would happen to the baby if such a thing occurred. At the beginning, the audience is fixated on what will happen to the band members left in Israel who are like The Little Prince that flew down to Earth, but the attention of the audience naturally shifts over time to the lives of the people living in this small town in Israel.

After one night, the band members leave the town with feelings of gratitude. The members seem to have arrived safely at their destination as the movie ends with the scene of the band performing in front of a crowd. Someone may want to say that nothing happened, but this movie is in fact a surprisingly excellent work packed with a lot of content in 80 short minutes. Viewers may have different interpretations due to their experiences, knowledge, education, or interests, and each one may be correct. This movie is like a mirror reflecting each person’s heart.

I also had various thoughts when I watched this movie, but I’ll write about one—the intellectual criticism of American Hollywood movies flowing through the bottom of this movie. Hollywood movies offer romance and characters with beautiful faces that meet, fight, and have dramatic endings, but the director seems to gently say that these are not always required to make an excellent work. Some Israeli people with a connection to Hollywood make dramatic, big-budget movies about the Holocaust or Middle East conflict. But he may want to say that Israel is not just this. Even for young people living in Israel, it is hard to find a spouse they are excited to marry and, if they do, a stable life may not continue. Life is not easy even at the best of times, but it is even more difficult since there is strife with foreign countries and terrorism. People of various beliefs live in Israel, but most people understand the reality and the fact that there is no other country but Israel to live in. They do not know whether or not the methods used to found the nation of Israel were the best, but with the efforts of many people and a heavy price paid, they got their own country by expelling former inhabitants; with this past, there may be a genuine feeling of wanting to protect their country while inflicting as little harm on other groups of people as possible. Otherwise, what were the various sacrifices of the past for?

I have a close Jewish friend. She is married to a non-Jewish person, has a high-skill job, enjoys her relationships with people at the synagogue, enjoys her friendships with people of different cultures, supports the Democrat president, travels abroad every year, has saved money for retirement, and donates her extra money to support the higher education of girls in Kenya. For her, America is the only country where she can live happily and safely, but her son has a strong interest in Israel and, in the end, went to Israel to study abroad. According to her, “I didn’t intend to raise my child with the feeling of wanting to live in Israel, but I can’t stop him from wanting to go there. I tell myself that living and experiencing actual life in Israel is a necessary process for him. Half of me is worried for my son and half is proud of his determination.”

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Movie: Vals Im Bashir — Waltz with Bashir (2008)

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Watching this movie together with Beaufort, a 2007 Israeli film, may help us understand the complicated state of affairs of the Lebanon War. Waltz with Bashir depicts the beginning of the Lebanon War while Beaufort depicts the final withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon in 2000.

In 1982, the Israeli army invaded their neighbor Lebanon. Because large-scale Palestine refugee camps in Lebanon became hiding places for anti-Israel terrorists, the strategic intention was to eradicate these terrorists. In addition, Israel intended to establish a pro-Israeli regime in Lebanon by supporting Bashir, the charismatic leader of the Christian Phalange party; at the time, the Phalange party and an Islamic group that was supported by Syria were competing for power in Lebanon. However, even though Bashir was elected in the Lebanon presidential election, he was assassinated immediately after. The Phalange party assumed this assassination to be an act by Palestinian guerillas so they carried out a massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Israel faced global criticism for a long time as the mastermind of this massive killing, but this movie reveals a new viewpoint of this incident.

This movie’s main character and director, Ari Folman, was 19 years old at the time of these events. Although he should have been in the frontline of the Israeli army when invading Lebanon, the movie begins with him realizing that he has no memories of those times. The memory gradually comes back by interviewing some of his comrades in arms and superior officers during that time and the journalists who reported the scene immediately after the massacre. He begins to understand that the loss of his own memory is because of the extreme horror of the scene he watched back then.

Director Ari Folman expresses his messages very candidly and directly. It is as if he is trying to prevent the audience from getting the wrong message that could result from ambiguity or ambivalence. I feel his passion and sense of purpose like, “I really want to tell this story and for it to be understood,” in this movie.

The first message is that the interference by Israel in Lebanon affairs via their support of Bashir was a mistake. The title of this movie is “Waltz with Bashir.” Waltz is a kind of dance, but it can carry the subtext of “conspiring with someone with an ulterior motive.” Although Israel may have intended to protect the peace of Israel by having Bashir establish a pro-Israeli nation, the failure of this interference with another country’s affairs resulted in global anti-Israeli feelings of distrust for the next 30 years and left Israel with a big burden.

The second message is that most Israel soldiers did not participate in the Sabra and Shatila massacre, nor did they know what happened. This cannot be categorically dismissed as an “Israeli excuse.” If he as an artist doesn’t let the world know the truth that he knows, the deaths of those who died in the Lebanon War—whether they are Palestinian refugees or young Israeli soldiers—will be in vain. Director Ari Folman does not talk about which side was righteous. In the movie, he even accuses an Israeli commander who knew what was happening for not quickly putting an end to it. His true intention is that, when we truly know and understand what happened in the past, we can begin to start a better future.

His third message is an anti-war conviction from the bottom of his heart. The director was drafted and sent to Lebanon when he was 19 years old. Surrounded by many fellow soldiers and confident of his safety within a tank, he was excited to go to the beautiful country of Lebanon and charming city of Beirut. However, this excited feeling was shattered the moment the war started. Nevertheless, his romanticism as a young man doesn’t yet vanish and he thinks he can get revenge by making his ex-girlfriend feel guilty for dumping him if he were to die in war. This movie transmits the bitter feelings of the director that looks back and realizes that these juvenile feelings of romanticism were foolish.

The fourth message is related to the third message, but it is that invading a foreign country is very foolish and you can’t win. The director barely returned from Lebanon alive and, even though he nearly died and many refugees were slaughtered, many young people of the same generation in his homeland Israel that didn’t go to war get drunk to rock music, dance at bars, and enjoy life with a feeling of, “War? What’s that?” There are the same feelings of estrangement and disappointment that American and Soviet Union soldiers felt after returning from the hell of Vietnam, Iran, or Afghanistan. People resist with all of their might when their home country is invaded by another country. However, people in the homeland hardly understand what their soldiers are doing in a foreign country so it is difficult to sympathize with these soldiers; regardless of the military power the army may have or how exhausted the invaded country may be, it is frightening for soldiers to invade a foreign country and nobody there welcomes invading soldiers. In the end, the invader will never win.

This movie is an animated documentary. I think there was no other option to choose to depict this theme. It would be impossible to shoot the movie in Lebanon due to the current state of affairs there and it would be impossible to try to reproduce Beirut from thirty years ago. Beirut was beautiful before this destruction and a well-known tourist city, so anyone would know immediately that it was fake if they attempted to reproduce it. Animation was also a good choice for a medium due to the horrifying events depicted in the movie. In addition, beautiful music, like a gem, effectively accents important scenes.

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