This week, I spent my Friday evening among NGO representatives, documentary-goers, journalists and truth-seekers at the Frontline Club, for the UK premiere of Hernan Zin's beautifully filmed, 'Born in Gaza'.
The film follows 10 children between the ages of 6 and 13 as they recall the impact that the war in Gaza has had on their childhood and the price that the ordinary people have had to pay for a war where they are constantly asking themselves, 'why, why me?'.
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| www.elimparcial.es |
I'll start with the cinematography. In a world where news reels show us unsteady mobile phone footage and blurred images of people fleeing an event, Zin wanted to give the audience time to understand his subjects, by slowing everything right down. The result was somewhat beautiful, as we watch our children of Gaza go about their daily tasks, we have the time to study them, to work out their thoughts from visuals before we hear them explained. The slow motion captures are unique amidst a backdrop of war and conflict and yet it speaks just as loud as any comment does, when we are able to study their every emotion, and have the time to conclude for ourselves just how much pain lies behind those eyes. It's tragically authentic.
Then I have to mention the drone. How Zin got a drone into Gaza I'm still not sure, but he did. And the aerial shots are the first images from the region that I've seen that really show the scale of the destruction, as well as how large the region of Gaza actually is. He also had some really lovely shots of Mohamed swimming underwater, so again, I'm not sure how he managed to get so much equipment into the region in the first place but I am so glad that he did. The cinematography was fantastic, especially considering the short amount of time that Zin spent there getting it right. His first visit, was cut from 5 days to just 1, so it's remarkable he got any footage at all.
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| decine21.com |
Next, I'll speak about the story. It did lack a little in narrative but I feel that that's due to the rushed nature of putting the whole thing together. It was merely an editing together of separate stories and jumping through them, rather than instilling a narrative between them. The narrative was almost the destruction, shown through the wonderful drone shots I mentioned above. In Zin's words, 'We didn't even edit, just the questions and answers, they are incredible'. I seem to remember Zin telling us that the whole film was pieced together and edited in just 3 weeks? He wanted to get the film out whilst the message was still strong, and succeeded I think, in that. Despite the lack of narrative, it did not take away from the compelling nature of the children, and the way they told their stories. They have endured a constant barrage of fear and now, finally, with a middle finger held up to the bias of mass media corporations, we as an audience are allowed in to see it.
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| theguardian.com |
In 2013 I travelled to Israel, and whilst my friends were content with learning about the conflict from the Israeli side, with input from Toby Greene of Bicom, who gave us a run down of the political history of the region, I really wanted to see for myself what life in the West Bank or Gaza is really like. During the session with Toby, although he allowed us to come to our own conclusions, the history of the state always came back to the plight of the Israelis... never to the plight of the Palestinians. THAT is the reason I attended the screening, because I wanted to see 'beyond the lines' if you like. Hernan Zin's film allowed me to do just that. I wanted to hear more about the fact that 'Palestine has for six decades, been denied the right to become a state'
Hernan Zin.
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| Hamada - cultura.elpais.com |
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| Motasem & his father - feelmakers.com |
There were no politics involved in the film, no adult intervention - just children - and with it, the remarkable absence of hate and revenge as well as the complete removal of 'blame' - after all, the word Israel is only mentioned once. These children speak with such clarity of conscience about their innocence, their needs and their hopes, or absence of, for the future. The two children that touched me the most, were Hamada and his cousin Motasem; two of the surviving boys from the aerial attack on the boys playing football on the beach. 13yr old Hamada has such an intelligent and mature outlook on his life that he blew me away. He knows that they are innocent in the war, he knows that his cousin has been affected deeply by it and he knows that he needs help. Motasem, is 11 years old, and suffers from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Just two days before Zin returned to film, Motasem shares with him that he tried to kill himself. He was going to jump from a building and his relative stopped him - Is this what this war is all about, crushing the will of children? You can see the fear and the pain etched into his face. Just as you can feel the children on edge as they tell of how they would jump at the sound of doors slamming. The film brings with it a 'feeling' rather than just a 'commentary' and that I feel, is unique.
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| blogs.elpais.com |
I also thought it was remarkable that 6yr old Bisan, a young girl who refuses to talk about an attack that left her unable to close her right eye, has a young friend who is able to explain this to us, in a way that we could never have dreamt of communicating when we were her age. It is perhaps comforting to know, that her injuries are now going to be treated and operated on in Madrid, with the help of the film-makers, so perhaps Bisan will be able to at least draw a line under her external pain, if not the internal. However, the permission to travel must at first be granted by the Israeli authorities of course.
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| Hernan Zin with Mohamed - twitter.com |
There are a wealth of moments that I could speak about, but the children of the film itself provide more justice than I could ever do with my words. They create a portrait of pain and of need for psychological support. They show that they are resilient: Mohamed, is just a boy and the only bread-winner in his family. He works all day collecting plastics with his horse and cart, for just 5 shekels - the equivalent of 80 pence.
It may not be the perfect film in terms of narrative, but from what I got from Zin, his only objective was to voice the suffering of the children... and in that he succeeded beautifully. The film is a wonderfully authentic portrait of childhood in Gaza and a powerful plea for psychological therapy, and an end to the conflict. After all, how can a child grow up when everyday he wakes to the sound of Israeli drones and the sight of Israeli warships 5miles to the horizon? He can't. And 'Born in Gaza' gives a particularly emotive voice to the people who endure this every day.
Here's the trailer:
BORN IN GAZA_official trailer from
CONTRAMEDIA FILMS on
Vimeo.
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