Documentary looks at escalating conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in Hebron
THIS IS MY LAND . . . HEBRON (Giulia Amati & Stephen Natanson, 2010)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Monday, June 27, 4:00; Tuesday, June 28, 6:30; Wednesday, June 29, 9:00
Series runs through June 30
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com
www.thisismylandhebron.com
While teaching a video course in the historic city of Hebron, Giulia Amati was struck by the intense battle going on between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the burial place of Abraham. Following the Six-Day War in 1967, a small group of Jews moved into the city, deciding to take it back from the Palestinians, whose families had been there for generations. Today, some five hundred settlers, mostly European Jews, have gained control of the embattled territory in the southern West Bank, trying to force out the 150,000 Palestinians who live there. “There is no place under the occupation that I hate more than Hebron,” Haaretz reporter Gideon Levy says in Amati and Stephen Natanson’s stirring documentary, This Is My Land . . . Hebron, adding, “It is really the place of evil.” Presenting both sides of the story, the filmmakers speak with such Jewish settlers as Miriam Grabovsky, Miriam Levinger, and spokesmen Noam Arnon and David Wilder, who believe in their God-given right to the land, and such Palestinian residents as Hamed Quashmeh and Osaid Rasheed, who don’t want to leave their homes and businesses. Jewish children in Hebron are raised to hate their Palestinian neighbors, throwing rocks and cursing them in the street. Palestinian houses are surrounded by wire fences that make it look like the families are living in cages. Former Israeli soldier Yehuda Shaul now leads “Breaking the Silence” tours of the area, revealing exactly what is going on. While some Israelis consider him a traitor, others see what he is doing as heroic, trying to get the truth out and establish peace. While much of what goes on in the Middle East is extremely complex and often sensationalized in the media, with the actions of the Israeli military and government often improperly misconstrued and wrongly criticized, the situation in Hebron seems to be clear, as Israeli Jews such as Shaul, Levy, and former Knesset member Ure Avnery explain in the film. Although This Is My Land . . . Hebron reveals the dark side of fundamentalism and racism, it should not be viewed as a microcosm in the continuing fight between the Israelis and the Palestinians but instead as a terrible side effect of an age-old conflict. Part of the “Times of Conflict and Responses to Terrorism” section of the Human Rights Watch Festival at Lincoln Center, which also includes “Migrants’ and Women’s Rights,” “Human Dignity, Discrimination, and Resources,” and “Truth, Justice, and Accountability,” This Is My Land . . . Hebron will have its North American premiere June 27-29 at the Walter Reade Theater, with all three screenings followed by a discussion with the filmmakers.
The city of Baltimore has not exactly been depicted kindly in film and on television, with such series as Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire, and The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood focusing on the rash of drugs and violence that have devastated the community, while native son John Waters has shown its wackier side in such films as Polyester and Hairspray. Born and raised in a suburb just inside the Baltimore city line, writer-director Matt Porterfield (Hamilton) has taken a different view in his second feature film, Putty Hill. When financing for his coming-of-age drama Metal Gods fell through, he decided to keep the cast and crew together and instead shoot a cinéma verité story about the after-effects of a young man’s drug overdose on a tight-knit community inspired by the one he grew up in. Not much is revealed about Cory as his funeral nears and life goes on, with his younger brother, Cody (Cody Ray), playing paintball with Cory’s friends; his uncle, Spike (Charles Sauers), tattooing customers in his apartment; and Spike’s daughter, Jenny (Sky Ferreira), returning to her hometown for the first time in several years and hanging out with her old friends like nothing much has changed. Working off a five-page treatment with only one line of scripted dialogue, Porterfield and cinematographer Jeremy Saulnier capture people just going on living, taking Cory’s death in stride; Porterfield interviews much of the cast, who share their thoughts and feelings in relatively unemotional ways. Shot on a minuscule budget in only twelve days, Putty Hill uses natural sound and light, nonprofessional actors, and real locations, enhancing its documentary-like feel, maintaining its understated narrative and avoiding any bombastic or sudden, big revelations. It’s a softly moving film, a tender tale about daily life in a contemporary American working-class neighborhood. Producer Steve Holmgren will participate in a Q&A at IndieScreen following the June 24 screening at 8:00, while editor Marc Vives will be on hand after the 6:00 show on June 25 to talk about the film.
One of the most controversial films ever made, Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange is a sociopolitical masterpiece that skewers everything in its path through the lens of ultraviolence. Malcolm McDowell stars as Alex DeLarge, our humble narrator and leader of the Droogs, a small gang that includes Georgie (James Marcus), Pete (Michael Tarn), and Dim (Warren Clarke), an oddly dressed quartet that rambles about town beating up all in their way. Following a particularly brutal home invasion, Alex finds himself in jail, soon to be part of a medical experiment to instill a Pavlovian fear of violence in criminals. The film consists of a series of marvelous vignettes that explore nothing less than the very nature of humanity itself, with sensational production design by John Barry and art direction by Russell Hagg and Peter Sheilds, each scene featuring bold colors and memorable sets. The intoxicating score ranges from Wendy Carlos’s original, ornate electronic music to Rossini’s “Thieving Magpie” and “William Tell Overture,” from Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” to Alex’s favorite, Ludwig van’s “Ninth.” And you’ll never think of “Singin’ in the Rain” the same way ever again. Kubrick based A Clockwork Orange, which was banned in England for nearly thirty years, on the first twenty chapters of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel; the American publisher refused to include the final chapter, about Alex’s ultimate redemption, in the book, and Kubrick left it out of the film as well. (The last chapter wasn’t published in the United States until 1986.) A Clockwork Orange is a truly grand cinematic experience, a treat for the senses; just as Alex’s eyes are pried open to watch scenes of terrible violence, you’ll be unable to take yours off the screen as he does his damage. A Clockwork Orange is screening tonight at the Rubin Museum, concluding the Proverbial Pictureshow series, being held in conjunction with the Tibet carpet exhibit “Patterns of Life,” and will be introduced by cultural critic Mark Dery. Admission to the museum is free on Friday nights, so be sure to check out the other current exhibits as well, which include “Masterworks: Jewels of the Collection,” “Body Language,” and “Quentin Roosevelt’s China.”