Popular reviews

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  Review by doofood ★½ 6

  A film that goes to absolutely extreme lengths to be non-confrontational, despite being about a fascist apartheid state that airholes children for fun called Israel. An extended monologue from a likable taxi driver who says that those in Gaza simply want personal liberty, as opposed to a great struggle against injustice, goes by unchallenged, meanwhile the PFLP are seen but never get to speak for the entire duration. The taxi driver character drives home this point as part of the film's deeply flawed worldview - he states over and over that he is an "ordinary person, like most other people here", implicitly excluding those dying for liberation, absolutely none of whom are profiled, as they are apparently not "ordinary Gazans",…

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  Review by Doha Hamdy ½

  A good example of how a foreign outsider artist lands on another community and not trying a bit to actually understand it, but rather imposing his own ideas and views upon it.

  The first dialogue sentence in the film is a boy saying "my father has 4 wives…" which actually sets the whole tone and pov of the film. Here we present a very exotic community, come and see. A very complicated society like Gaza is diminished to a very culture specific thing. A statement that actually says nothing on the important subject of Gaza or Palestine, but it is exotic enough for the western viewer.

  The whole film talks about Gaza as if it is just another underdeveloped underprivileged…

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  Review by Simon Ramshaw ★★★

  Too big and girthy for its subject to be contained within 92 minutes, there’s a lot of earnest content in here, but condensing it down this much and packing it to the brim with a score this heartrending reduces a lot of it to an Oh Dearism. Not sure why this is a film, to be honest; there’s surely enough demand in the current climate for a full-length TV show of this type of thing, with entire episodes dedicated to each individual subject. It just does everyone a minor disservice by rushing through everyone’s stories and feelings and the wider politics.

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  Review by Mike Kennedy ★★★★

  This documentary from Irish filmmakers Garry Keane and Andrew McConnell gives the lie to the dominant line being run by Zionist apologists in Australia that the current killings of Palestinian civilians and the demolition of residential buildings in Gaza are a response to the Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7.

  McConnell’s camera and Mick McMahon’s editing show us a broad cross-section of Gazans who recount their own stories, with a particular focus on events post-2014, including a 14 year old who works part time as a deckhand on a fishing boat to supplement the income for his parents and 13 siblings; the teenage daughter of a middle-class family who is a cello student at the Conservatorium; a taxi…

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  Review by Grey the Dot ★★★½

  Do you think Israel ever stops to think "maybe we're on the wrong side of things?" in-between shooting people that can only fight back by throwing rocks at them. Yes, I know the issue isn't that black and white but with all the misery it causes what could possibly be worth the gain of the conflict.

  I was warned by my boss that a school class was coming to see the movie and that they were known to be unruly and that I might have to hush them. They were quiet as mice. Turns out the true horrors of war are a sobering experience.

  Enjoyment Extracted: 3/10

  Technical Execution: 7/10

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  Review by via!

  we want to live. that's it. that's what the people need to know.

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  Review by Emily ★½

  Pretty to look at but also at times obviously staged and also so so very whitewashed. Palestinians don’t have to be perfect victim to be deserving of humanity. Anger and violence in the face of eradication is and always will be justified. 

  Free Palestine 🇵🇸

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  Review by lyds🌷

  “The dead are better off than the people living in the Gaza Strip. Even the dead have it easier.”

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  Review by ✌kenPbowes✌ ★★★½

  7.5 /10

  The photography is astounding, & the creatives wisely tore through the political to create something much more humane;
  however it does go on for too long & by continually hearing variations of the same message, it ran the risk of at best, being repetitive, & at worst, propaganda, albeit beautifully made.

  The great thing was that the sold-out screening had quite a few families of 3 generations attending together.

  
  Palestinian Film Festival @ Nova

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  Review by Rosie ★★★★★

  I have lots of political statements about this. But I think the only thing I can say about this subject is: watch this documentary NOW. 
  It’s hard to understand what they feel, the prison they’re living in. How hard it is to live under an open sky prison. The closest you can get is watch and think. I’m still speechless.

  
  Take off your blindfold.

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  Review by Fran Marques ★★★★★

  A gente ta sempre acostumado a tratar conflitos internacionais por dados, número de mortos, armamento utilizado e quantidade de feridos. Esse documentário trouxe, não especialistas academicos que tão fora do conflito pra falar, mas palestinos reais com sofrimentos reais que vivem o conflito diariamente. Me lembrou da narrativa da Svetlana Alexijevich, em que os número são colocados de lado pra gente ouvir as vozes dentro de Gaza - o genocídio do povo palestino realizado por Israel e financiado internacionalmente. Intrigante e triste.

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  Review by salda ★★★★ 1

  Free Palestine, ceasefire NOW🍉
  この映画で描かれているのは、一般のガザに住むパレスチナ人の日常だ。留学を夢見ている学生や、イスラエル兵の銃撃により足を無くしたラッパー。イスラエルにより定期的に電力を止められており、生産的な活動ができない労働者。サーファー。演劇の演出家。様々だ。そこには、人々の営みが確実にある。
  後半6分間で初めて、ガザに落とされる空爆が映る。
  そこで私たちは何を思えばいいのだろうか。

  イスラエルのシオニストが行っていることは、行い続けたことは、明らかにジェノサイドだ。この問題は複雑でも何でもない。簡単なこと。ジェノサイド。それだけ。

  一刻も早く停戦を。そして政治的解決を。
  パレスチナの死者数は1万人を超えた。私たちはそれに加担している。恥でしかない。

  FREE FREE Palestine.🍉🇵🇸

  There is no free of ours, until free of Palestine.

  自分の政府に呼びかけましょう。