No Other Land

⭐8/10

I watched this a few weeks ago, and it's a bit of an odd one to reflect on. In honesty, it didn't quite make me feel like I expected. It is a documentary about the IDF slowly forcing the Palestinians of the West Bank out of their homes. This is a key point because I didn't really know much about Palestine going in, but what I learned is that Palestine kinda has two parts right now, and the West Bank is not Gaza, which is where there is a much more forceful genocide happening. 

I suppose that with everything that is currently happening, land displacement in the West Bank (all before the 2023 escalation in Gaza) felt a little less central. Obviously I learned a lot, and there is violence to be sure, but you don't see those stark images of starving children or piles of corpses. Honestly one of my biggest takeaways was that these people are much braver than me, because I sure wouldn't risk what they do to stay on my land. I totally get they have a different attachment to their land, and there are no nice alternatives, but I'd have run from the go. I suppose the involvement of their children was another uncomfortable spot for me, but again, i acknowledge that this is more difficult or complex than I could ever imagine. 

But as for the documentary itself, I think they do a wonderful job of covering the conflict, seeing how rights erode over time and how the Palestinians have lost agency along every step, and the "reasoning" that is given by aggressors to do evil things. Obviously there is bias as this only covers the conflict from one viewpoint, but this is far deeper than the simple rage bait one sees on social media. This really did feel like two guys with no resources recording a story and putting it out there against the odds. Like it is literally impossible to find this movie anywhere, even still, despite it winning an Academy Award. It's infuriating, and I feel lucky for having seen it. 

This is a good documentary that is meant to illicit outrage, and it did that in me. It was hard to watch, and filled me with that sense of dread and powerlessness. It also made me want to just be like, give up and move somewhere else, this is hopeless! But I've read enough about great movements to know that they are made by people who don't give up, and my goodness I hope they are rewarded for their persistence. 

Obviously an amazing, essential watch. But again, though all of this is connected, it just seems like peripheral issue with the world being where it is