Directed By Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal

Starring – Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal

The Plot – A young Palestinian activist named Basel Adra has been resisting the forced displacement of his people by Israel’s military in Masafer Yatta, a region in the West Bank, since he was a child. He records the gradual destruction of his homeland, where Israeli soldiers are tearing down homes and evicting their inhabitants in order to create a military firing zone. He befriends Yuval, a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him in his struggle. They form an unexpected bond, but their friendship is challenged by the huge gap between their living conditions: Basel faces constant oppression and violence, while Yuval enjoys freedom and security.

This film is not rated

No Other Land – Official UK Trailer

POSITIVES

Very few films have left me as intensely angry as “No Other Land”, whether as a result of the one-sided power struggle of these people within a small village who are continuously stripped of all of their possessions on their own property, or the complete lack of outsider relief from bigger and more powerful nations who overlook the animalistic means that Israeli soldiers venomously treat their opposition. Documentaries are typically known for inscribing unfiltered access to predicaments that we otherwise wouldn’t experience from the safety and sanctity of our own homes, but there’s a real rawness to this trio’s captures that make the impending danger feel closer and more unpredictable than we’re typically given proximity towards, with the unearthing of cruel and unnecessary punishment of Palestinian people over the course of four years of filming that proves their push for humiliation and dominance is never fully satisfied by a shameless regime who quite literally laugh in the faces of suffering families attempting to assemble some pieces of stability to their seemingly daily onslaughts. Because of such, the film does a brilliant job of not only articulating the urgency factor of these families hopeless outlook on futures that they so obviously deserve, but beyond that the inspiring resiliency of their spirit, which despite getting beaten down repeatedly throughout these spontaneous invasions, still maintain that desire to keep building on basic human needs and rights that they’re absolutely entitled to, even in the face of rude strangers who want nothing more to shoot them on site. This is steered remarkably by Yuval and Basel, who with such a uniquely compelling dynamic in friendship between rival sides, offers a sweet underlining to a picture so overcome by the bleakly dire, and while I sought out “No Other Land” for the aforementioned unfiltered access of seeing the struggles of these people captured for countries not entirely familiar with their conflicts, I remained firmly invested by the directionless interactions of these friends who question if a future full of promise and equality for the Palestinian people even seems possible. Those moments serve as a fitting commentary following sequences involving terrifying ambush, but even when their conversations pertain to something simple like Yuval’s work in a gas station, or his hilarious proposition for the two to get married, based on the abundance of time that they spent together, the film has a meaningful merit towards defining the unbreakable mold of the human spirit, where Yuval’s charms as a sweetly sentimental family man are balanced by the fearlessness that he exudes in getting as closely uncomfortable as possible to these armies of shooters, and while the argument can always be made that other documentaries might have conveyed insights more thoroughly, nobody can argue that anyone risked as much as this film crew did, in order to capture a darkly depraving side of his nation’s history that unfortunately still lingers today. As far as technical merits for the film goes, I found the microphones used in the picture to take the cake for praises, particularly in the bold definition of articulating the gunfire and property destruction that served as the exclamation point to these repeated conflicts. Such an example pertains to a scene where Yuval travels to a surrounding village because he’s told that an invasion is happening there, and in the time and rare comfort of being distanced from the soldiers parading this village, the amplification of screams and echoing gunfire still cry out in a scene visually with so much uncertainty, leaving us feeling like we’re always a step away from danger, even in situations where Yuval is slightly safer than others. Beyond the microphone’s, the film’s editing and overall structure intentionally values repetition as a means of showcasing the everyday realities for these people, creating no essence of long-term safety for these people, despite the events in the film essentially covering a four year period with more separation than it feels. This aspect could certainly test the patience of the audience, especially with a 93-minute runtime that does feel every inch of that without being boring, but simultaneously it also appraises even more empathy to these Palestinian people, as a result of the rare allowance of down time and control that they’re continuously not afforded, in turn aggravating me to no end towards these Israeli soldiers who frequently find new ways to articulate their cowardice. Lastly, the scintillating score from Julius Pollux Rothlaender is used sparingly enough, in order to never take away from the authenticity of the various environments, however cathartically inspire profound sentiments during interview scenes that always illustrate a bigger picture out of the audience. It’s difficult to put into words without spoiling, but I can say that Rothlaender revels in themes that wholeheartedly stay away from melodramatic, instead brandishing an essence of optimism to a documentary that doesn’t always earn it, perhaps opting to instead show the beauty and resiliency in humans who are battle tested.

NEGATIVES

Mentioning any kind of issues in a picture this personal immediately sets anyone up for criticism, however “No Other Land” is definitely not a perfect documentary, even if it easily runs away with the Oscar in its particular category. For starters, I could’ve definitely used more of an expansive narrative feeding into the history and horrors of this long-running rivalry, especially as someone who is maybe well-versed in merely 25% of the assorted facts. While Yuval does attempt to momentarily tap into the realities of the causes within this small village’s impending doom, its scope is simply too intimate and condensed to feel fully satisfying of the bigger picture, leaving it a missed opportunity to bring everyone up to speed for the events that predate even these experienced characters. This could’ve definitely helped with the aforementioned repetition in structure, which will undoubtedly divide audiences on their final grade for the film, but beyond that could’ve utilized more depth to the minutes within its runtime to something that was creatively versatile, leaving it merely an entertaining film, even if not entirely an educational one. Beyond the missed opportunity of exploring history, the documentary is also plagued by shaking camera visuals during scenes involving physical confrontation that were a chore to remain invested to the screen. This obviously is out of the control of the trio’s capabilities, as they’re quite literally running for their lives against gun-hungry madmen, however it doesn’t make it any easier to follow along with the on-screen text of translated dialogue that continues even the visuals lack clarity, and it just makes me wish that there was somehow a way for this group to use multiple cameras during these most intense of scenes, especially with how squeamish their sporadic movements left my stomach feeling.

OVERALL
“No Other Land” doesn’t have the narrative cohesiveness of more distinguished documentaries, but it is a devastatingly urgent and even intensely angering insight into the startling injustices of the Palestinian people in the Middle East, with a limitless reach of accessibility into their devastation that lingers something unnervingly, hours after seeing it. While the film’s intention serves to document the divide between rivaling cultures, its single strongest aspect is the friendship between directors and stars that transcends their own geographical differences, where the beauty of humanity can still grow between the cracks of a war-torn world on the brink of disaster.

My Grade: 8.6 or A-