Research

Research I did in order to help increase my knowledge and understanding on the conflict and making a documentary: 

The film '5 Broken Cameras' - By a Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi.

(The film won a 2012 Sundance Film Festival award, it won the Golden Apricot at the 2012 Yerevan International Film Festival, Armenia, for Best Documentary Film, won the 2013 International Emmy Award, and was nominated for a 2012 Academy Award.)

Plot:
The 94 minute documentary conveys the conflict between Palestine and Israel from a first hand experience and complete eye witnessing. Helping to show and give evidence of the atrocious and heartbreaking realities that the Palestinians live and experience every day monotonously.  

The documentary is set in a small village in the Israel west bank  barrier in Bil'in, it presents many of the protests in which took place here and the general struggle to live from 2005 until 2010 , the filming being done over 5 different cameras and the 6th has continued filming from 2010 onwards today. The majority of the filming was taken by the Palestinian Eman Burnat himself and later on in 2009 the Israeli Guy Davidi then joined him in his pursuit. 

Emad Burnat begins the film almost expressing how he feels due to these happenings, words such as: 

"They burn in my head like a hot flame"

"The old wounds don't have time to heal"

"Each of my children experienced a different childhood"

"A day of demonstration in the village is better than a wedding"

"It takes strength to turn anger into something positive"

"Its an endless cycle"

Quotations like these stand out, these are not words in which come from a place of civilization or security, these words come from uncertainty, destruction and restriction, however many Palestinians still seem to find the strength to resist and remain optimistic.  

As these Palestinians attempt to live their life and also attempt to peacefully protest for their freedom and to gain back parts of their own land, it is soon evident that the Israeli forces have no problems disrupting and harshly retaliating to this, tactics such as: "special Israeli soldiers planted among us to create chaos" therefore falsely working with the Palestinian people however sabotaging their resistance and causing more problems for the Palestinians, causing many to be arrested etc. Moreover within the film we see how Palestine is dominated and occupied by many Israeli laws and soldiers, although when the Palestinians again powerlessly use some of the laws in which the Israelis force upon them and reverse these laws toward Israelis they disapprove of this, conveying the inequality and lack of power that the Palestinians suffer from.

Not only are the Palestinians victims in their everyday living but also have the painful task of bringing their children up in such a barbaric, cruel and suppressed state, a place where "death is all around". For example: Emad uses his youngest son Gibreel as a central point within the documentary, he illustrates how upsetting it is having to watch Gibreel's childlike innocence slowly fade and how Emad has no choice or other option but for Gibreel to see things with his own eyes, in order to understand the "vulnerability" of life as he also quotes "They have to become strong men", as clearly there is no chance of easy survival if you are weak. 

Towards the end of the documentary it becomes visible to us an audience as to why Emad and Guy created this documentary or why Emad used the concept of filming to help him cope with the struggles in Palestine. As he experiences and lives through the continuous hurt he hopes that "capturing these images will have some meaning" and that his filming helps to convey to us an audience that although the Palestinians experience no end of agony they still seem to "raise morale even when things seem hopeless" conveying their overwhelming strength and persistence in fighting for the survival of their homeland. 

This was an extremely moving documentary for me, as it indeed depicts the realities of general living for the Palestinians, how their every move is dictated and dominated by Israeli forces. However I also view this documentary to be uplifting and positive in the sense that it presents the Palestinians exactly as they are: courageous, resistant and inspiring. As I display my gratitude for this documentary I will leave you with this:

"By healing I resist oppression, when I'm hurt over and over again, I forget the wounds that rule my life. Forgotten wounds cant be healed, so I film to heal"