No Other Land is a documentary that is unlike any other. The brutal portrayal of life in the southern regions of the West Bank sets this film apart from the rest. It is directed by a 4 person Israeli-Palestinian collective and was filmed from 2019 to 2023 for the most part. This film also contains a large amount of archival footage from over 10 years ago. The film is set at a distressing time, wherein an escalation of violence between the Israeli settlers and the Palestinians had just commenced. It shows when the violence began and how it escalated. Such a horrifying instance is showcased when an Israeli attacker opens fire at a Palestinian villager from up close, but this scene was from one of the many bloodshed events that took place in the region.
Masafer Yatta is not geographically located in Gaza, however, because the violence in Gaza is escalating, this statement is not startling. The last shooting is not the final onscreen killing as one could assume when viewing No Other Land. There is more death as the movie progresses. Straight-out occupation and power play are harrowing goes of the film depicting events both shot on prosumers, iPhones, and high-end camera equipment. There are two reciprocating main events spanned the years that are portrayed: an ongoing struggle to get the Palestinians living in this region out of the region, and the young bond building between the two filmmakers. Basel Adra is a lawyer by profession who has never been free from the fear of displacement at any time in her life. (Is it a surprise early footage shows him being arrested for participating in public demonstrations against Israel’s presence within their community?) Yuval Abraham is an Israeli investigative journalist from Be’er Sheva. They don’t particularly hide the fact that they are activists. In his published work, he spent years filming the military entering and invading his village and other nearby locations which pushed Adra to take action. He left the IDF because he was ordered to work in an Arab-speaking intelligence unit.
(The two other credited directors are Palestinian Hamdan Ballal and Israeli Rachel Szor, who was also the cinematographer of the film.)
Even though they seem to have politics in common, Adra does not trust Abraham at the beginning. On the other hand, the Israeli could return home at night to Be’er Sheva which is only 30 minutes away, and which roads the Palestinian has no option of using. Also, he is not accustomed to being awakened by home raids and flashbang grenades in the middle of the night. London South Bank University students were able to conduct a comprehensive interview with individuals who le Tandi. In one of the frames of reference,e Abraham is explaining his actions to one man who is trying to explain how he feels about Israel. “How can we remain friends when you come here?” the man asks. “It could be your brother or friend who destroyed my home.” They were talking about feelings about the war while building the building blew up by IDF. It was a mix of friendly and hostile feelings.
It might not be obvious to us that this other man is Hamdan Ballal, one of the co-directors of the film. This is the type of candid, human moment that a typical political documentary would try to avoid, lest it sully an otherwise well-defined point of view, or even allow for the filmmakers themselves to have divided loyalties, particularly towards each other. In that context, however, it makes this reality’s sadness that much more real. We witness the psychological damage of occupation and violence affecting normal people and how it even affects their most private relations. Adra and Abraham discuss when they are ready to start a family in another scene. It is an interesting talk between two friends, but it has significant tell-tale pauses in between, where things are not said, and this is probably stronger than what is said in the film.
That complexity and struggle back east but here out in the western world we have an odd but advantageous form of amnesia regarding that struggle. Each new flare-up seems to erase every previous one from the collective mind, as subsequent scenes appear in a straight sequence exclusively: The Palestinians did this, so the Israelis did this, or the other way around whereas the grim reality is that this violent occupation together with all its motion never ceasing cruelty and anguish, has existed for many years and it involves many civilians who are stuck in the crossfire.
In this manner, it is possible to argue that the most important aspect of No Other Land is the possibility to jump through time. One of Abraham’s press reports, he lamented, did not get much internet traffic, which annoyed him. Adra jokes with his friend, who cannot resist back in timelines but wants to make a difference right away. Everyone understands that nobody wants to see a story of nearly any home being swallowed or a chicken coop or even a school being brought down. “This is a story of power,” Adra thinks to himself. Not simply in the aspect of who possesses it but in the manner in which it is performed and comprehended. What the IDF is trying to do to eliminate all the people in the vicinity of Masafer Yatta takes place in every large and consistent devastating rage. (A visit by then British Prime Minister Tony Blair succeeded in preventing the destruction of a school that the villagers put up for their children years before). No, it is no; it is progressive and excessive through sporadic invasions over the years and the minute supply in that case.
As stated, the screen shows No Other Land and within a few minutes something occurs featuring a film-like manipulation of time, an inversion of power dynamics as would be expected by said author, ideally, there is a reversal when there is a transition towards the other party directed at that manipulation.
Earlier this year, No Other Land had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, where it received two of the festival’s most coveted accolades and garnered a bit of controversy. One of the most absurd examples of the former was when Adra and Abraham attacked on-stage while receiving an award at the fest about the role of German military funding them to attack in Gaza, it happened during the festival’s closing night ceremony. Claudia Roth, the German culture minister, gave a round of applause to their speech. It got surreal, though, when Roth, in an angry episode that could be straight from the film, said later she was only clapping for the Israeli side of the filmmaking couple, and not for the Palestinian involved.
Since its premiere in Berlin, the film has been receiving critical acclaim and continuous award wins throughout the global festival circuit. It was recently featured in the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals and is now being featured in the New York Film Festival. (Earlier this week, the directors had to cut their U.S. visit short after Israel invaded Lebanon and Iran’s missile attack on Israel.) And while No Other Land has been bought for the U.K., France, Australia, and many other countries, it currently sits without U.S. distribution. Which should be surprising. Yes, controversial topics are not for most audiences, but American film distributors loved the controversy, especially with the critics who artfully mastered these blockbuster films. Are these people just being knaves or are these films too politically aligned for them to have any viewership? Perhaps we may never figure that out, but there is a power portrayal at the heart of this story and a question if American audiences will ever view this eye-opening documentary that articulates that power display.
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