Costs Mount, Security Eludes
Movie Review of Simone Bitton's 'Wall'
Volume 75, Number 34
| August 25 - 31,
2005FILMWALLDirected
by Simone BittonDistributed by
Lifesize EntertainmentOpens Aug.
26Quad
CinemaCosts Mount, Security
EludesSimone
Bitton’s documentary suggests the futility of Israeli security
fencesCOURTESY
Lifesize Entertainment
Simone Bitton captures both the starkness
of the security fence in Israel, exemplified by barbed wire,
and the permeability, especially in the
most densely populated areas it
divides.By SETH J.
BOOKEYMountain ranges and bodies of
water have often served as natural boundaries between people and nations. A
wall, however, is a man-made barrier most unnatural, and that is the message,
both spoken and tacit, in the new documentary
"Wall."Filmmaker Simone Bitton, an
Israeli citizen who is from Morocco and considers herself Arabic, presents
people from both sides of the wall, also known as the "security fence,"
currently being constructed by the Israeli government in its desperation to stop
suicide bombings. The government's logic
has been that since the Gaza Strip became completely walled in, very few bombers
have come from that area. So now, a wall is going up around parts of the West
Bank as well.The genius of Bitton's film
is that she lets the wall and the country do a lot of the talking for her. She
shows the countryside as panel after panel of concrete wall goes up to blot out
the scenery. Even when the camera stands far from the wall, showing the entire
landscape, the wall is rarely out of view. It is a glaringly intrusive construct
in one of the world's most beautiful
places.In addition to showing what an
eyesore the wall is, Bitton also talks to a variety of people, from Israelis and
Palestinians living directly adjacent to the wall to an Israeli military
official who defends the wall and how it operates. More than just a wall, this
new hardening of the border that puts Jews and Muslims literally on opposite
sides also involves an intricate security zone that includes ditches, razor
wire, dirt and paved roads, and electronic sensors. Watchtowers punctuate the
wall to give soldiers convenient vantage points. And of course, it costs
millions of dollars per kilometer of
"security."The terrorists and the
bureaucrats are far from the heart of this film, though, as Bitton speaks to
everyday people affected by the new security measure. She speaks to Palestinians
hired to build the wall, who have grabbed on to the only sure employment they
have. Israelis acknowledge that Palestinians will be separated from their farms
and their jobs on the far side of the wall, making what was once a simple walk
to work an ordeal of lengthy waits at
checkpoints.The wall even separates
friends. An Israeli man who became close to the mayor of the neighboring
Palestinian town can no longer host his friend for dinner or go to the movies
with him.Some of the Palestinians talk
of Israeli plots to steal their land, but most focus more on how the wall makes
peace seem even more elusive. People from both sides resent being told, "Israeli
Jews on this side, Muslims on this side." And the military man’s talk of
electronic sensors and soldiers showing up "within minutes" is undercut by
Bitton's footage of Palestinians simply climbing over the wall in more populated
areas. Like water, people always seek the most direct
route.There are many films that take on
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and history, but "Wall" details the problems
when negotiation ceases to be a credible means of resolving conflict. The film
appeals more to the heart than it does to politics or history, showing in stark,
but simple terms the futility of dividing a house that has the potential to
stand united, if in fact the people we meet in "Wall" are indicative of a silent
majority in the area, too afraid to speak up. Must of the wall Bitton films is
painted, with political graffiti or trompe l'oeil murals, reminiscent of another
divisive barrier that in the end fell famously.
Posted: Thu - August 25, 2005 at 01:26 AM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:03 PM
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