The last week of the film festival

BAILA LAZARUS EDITOR AND CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

The Vancouver International Film Festival closes this week with a few people questioning the slant of films related to Israel or the Middle East. While some documentaries have obvious biases, there are still some to be seen that present a balanced view of the situation.

Life to the Jews!

"Death to the Arabs!" yell people in the audience of a Subliminal concert. "Cut it out you natives!" screams back the Jewish Israeli hip-hop artist.
"Not death to the Arabs, but life to the Jews!"

This is one scene in Channels of Rage, a documentary about Zionist rapper Subliminal, whose real name is Kobi Shimoni, and Arab nationalist rapper Tamer Nafer, or TN. At the beginning of his career, TN looks up to Subliminal, his rhythm and way of capturing audiences' attention. As TN makes more of a name for himself and becomes more popular – with songs such as "Arabs of '48" and "Innocent Criminals" – the animosity between TN and Subliminal grows.

The documentary starts with a clip from 2003 showing a street argument in which some threats are traded between the two musicians and their respective group members. It then cuts back to three years earlier, in happier times, when many of the same people are laughing and joking with filmmaker Anat Halachmi: "Film the coexistence! Film it!" they cry, arm-in-arm, lauding the fact that Russian, Ethiopian, Arab and Persian rappers share a stage together. From there, Channels of Rage follows the relationship between Subliminal and TN, from 2000 to 2003; how they cope with life in Israel since the second intifada and how they maintain a rapport through it all, albeit not always a peaceful one. As the final credits roll, the two are heard arguing with each other, debating their people's points of view – but actually reaching agreement on some issues.

In addition to being a fascinating look at a music world with which most of us are unfamiliar, Channels of Rage provides one of the best (i.e. most balanced) portrayals of the Middle East conflict, the reasons behind it, how it affects people's lives and attitudes, and the prospects for peace. That the two rappers are still talking at the film's end is a hopeful sign that the conflict may yet be worked out with words rather than continuous violence.

Channels of Rage screens on Monday, Oct 4, 9:45 p.m., at Granville 7, cinema 2; and Wednesday, Oct 6, 1 p.m., at Granville 7, cinema 7.

Role of an intellectual

Here's a hint: If you're interested in learning about American intellectual Edward Said, and particularly his thoughts on the Middle East issue, buy a ticket, save a seat, then go have a coffee for 20 minutes. While the first third of the hour-long documentary Selves and Others: A Portrait of Edward Said isn't an entire waste of time, most of the content revolves around tedious minutia of Said's life as a youngster or esoteric monologues on orientalism, metaphysics, demagoguery and humanism. The last 40 minutes, however, include some of the same material, in addition to Said's more comprehensible and quite fascinating opinions about the Middle East.

Having grown up feeling alienated in many of the places he has lived, the concept of homeland and rootedness are somewhat foreign to Said and that has shaped much of his perspective of Palestinian and Israeli issues. Lambasting Israel for its militarism, Arafat for never consulting with the Palestinian people and the Arab state system for being "socially retarded," Said really does fill the shoes of a non-political intellectual very well. His job, as such, he says, is to stir up emotion, be critical of power and provide alternative models for solutions.

Overall, Said comes across as an extremely contemplative, soft-spoken man who would have made an engaging guest at a dinner table. He died of Leukemia in September 2003 at the age of 67.

Selves and Others shows with Driving an Arab Street (40 min.) on Monday, Oct. 4, 3:20 p.m., at Granville 7, cinema 2; and Thursday, Oct. 7, 9:30 p.m., at Pacific Cinémathèque.

Not that different

Most of the Jewish community will hear the title Different Drummers: Daring to Make Peace in the Middle East and cynically jump to the conclusion that this documentary is just another opportunity for Israel's critics to be heard. Well, they would be correct.

In Different Drummers, Boston College professor and filmmaker John Michalczyk interviews such people as Jessica Montell, executive director of B'Tselem, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, Judith Keshet, co-founder of Women at the Checkpoints, and several other Israelis (many of whom are American transplants). In Michalczyk's opinion, these people are some of the few who are truly trying to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In his view, they are the only ones who see the light, so to speak, in that they understand that peace cannot be had in the region until Israel (yes, only Israel) improves its human rights record. Lip service is paid to the thousands of innocent lives taken by terrorist acts.

The conclusion of the film is that those involved in the conflict (both Israelis and Palestinians) need to recognize each other's human dignity, then we may have the first step toward a lasting peace. You think?

Different Drummers screens Oct. 2, 8:45 p.m., and Oct. 7, 10:30 a.m., at the Granville 7, cinema 5.

Barrier to objectivity

It is somewhat surprising that in the 21st century filmmakers still believe they can simply set a camera up, turn it on for hours at a time, do a minimum of editing and make an interesting movie. But that's what filmmaker Simone Bitton has done in her documentary Wall about Israel's security barrier. She leaves the viewer watching minutes and minutes (an eternity in a movie) of trucks moving gravel, people walking along dirt roads in the middle of nowhere and long drawn-out shots of the barrier itself. Some (like the VIFF film guide) might refer to this brand of filmmaking as "intriguingly abstract." Others might just call it what it is – boring.

In addition to this tedious film technique, Bitton also has voices of people she has interviewed saying things like, "It's like a prison" or "We've been suffering for three years now," without having the speakers seen on screen. So the viewer is left to wonder if that's an Israeli Jew, an Israeli Arab or a Palestinian who has said it. While some might argue that it doesn't matter who said it, it ends up being an annoying facet of the film that, unfortunately, doesn't go away.

Besides the stylistic problems, this film suffers from the lack of a small thing called balance. While Bitton has caught several people on tape talking about what a waste of money the wall is, nowhere in the long 98 minutes does she ever bring up the statistics indicating how terror attacks have been reduced. Whereas during the first year of the intifada, terrorist attacks in major Israeli cities were frequent, since the barrier has been built, such attacks have been few and far between. In some areas, terrorist attacks have dropped by as much as 90 per cent.

Bitton does interview one person who supports the construction of the barrier – Amos Yaron, director general of the Ministry of Defence. But either she never asked Yaron how the barrier has helped save lives or she conveniently left it out of the tape because Yaron's comments are limited to how much earth has been moved, how the security system works and what the environmental effects are.

Of course, not every documentary has to include both sides of an issue, but if the issue is the barrier being built in Israel, whose purpose is to prevent terror attacks, surely even the most biased filmmaker needs to ask the question of whether the job is being done. Given the statistics and the fact that the question was quite obviously left out of the film, one can fairly conclude that the answer is "yes."

Wall plays Tuesday, Oct. 5, 8:45 p.m., at Granville 7, cinema 4.

Ticket information

Tickets for all films are $9 for adults, $7 for seniors and matinées. They can be bought online (www.viff.org) or through the VISA charge-by-phone line, 604-685-8297, noon to 7 p.m. daily. Ticket outlets (cash and VISA) are open noon to 7 p.m. daily at the Pacific Centre kiosk at Georgia and Granville and City Square at 12th and Cambie. The Starbucks information hotline, 604-685-FILM (3456), is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and program guides are also on sale, for $8, at bookstores around the city. Full program details are online at www.viff.org.

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