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Wall

Play trailer Poster for Wall Released May 17, 2004 1h 36m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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68% Tomatometer 31 Reviews 69% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
When is the price of safety too high? How about when it disrupts one's way of life or makes existence into a prison? In this documentary, the filmmakers chronicle the building of an enormous wall designed to keep the Palestinian sections of Israel apart, while considering repercussions -- including those political, social and environmental. Interviews center around government officials and those living near the wall, with the barrier occasionally looming in the frame like its own character.

Critics Reviews

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John Leonard New York Magazine/Vulture This Special Jury Prize winner at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival has its doubts, rather too tentatively expressed, and its arguments might have been bolstered by considering the recent history of all the other architecture in the killing fields... Jan 18, 2018 Full Review Janice Page Boston Globe Bitton poses the important questions, but too often she lets powerful responses get lost amid footage that lingers forever on some mundane location shot while interviews are happening mostly off camera. Oct 28, 2005 Full Review Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter While all this might have made for a potent short subject, the abstract visual monotony begins to wear thin shortly into the 98-minute running time. Oct 5, 2005 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews ...a thoroughly awful, downright insulting piece of work. Rated: 0/4 Jan 14, 2006 Full Review Andy Klein Los Angeles CityBeat [There are] numerous shots -- some of them several minutes long -- when there is no talk on the soundtrack....they may be an attempt at some kind of poetic meditation, but they merely come across as dull. Dec 15, 2005 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 3.5/5 Dec 6, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (14) audience reviews
Audience Member The people on either side of this obstruction need to stop crying and desperately need to get laid. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Intriguing and fairly decent documentary that takes you up close to the lives of the Israelis and Palestinians living by the wall that's being constructed through the West Bank. The filmmaker stays behind the camera at all times though you can hear her speak in (strongly French-accented) Hebrew and Arabic to the people she's interviewing. This, along with the sometimes long, silent sequences that show the wall being built and are probably meant to convey the passive inertia of the situation can be tedious. Good overall portraits of children and ordinary people and what they make of "the other," and their alternate anger and resignation at the situation. Semi-contrived flashes of humanity at various points. The intriguing question of whether the wall could be built without Palestinian workers is posed, but perhaps unfairly as the workers are clearly so squeezed economically that it's a chance they really can't refuse. Nice portrait of the technocratic and rightwing Israeli official in charge of the building of the wall, who seems emotionless and clinical till a final outburst. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Great documentary highlighting the impact of the wall to be built around the Gaza Strip, for both Israelis and Palestinians. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting but a bit monotonous after 45 minutes. It would have been more effective as a short documentary. It still has a powerful statement to make. Not a great documentary, but it is good. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Under construction - literally. A poetic (and to me effective) way of facing up to the Israeli/Palestinian separation... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member A fundamentally dull look at what should be a gripping human-interest piece. The highlights are improvised interviews with local Israelis and Palestinians but the bulk is panning shots of the wall - neither artistic or thought provoking in anyway. It manages to stay neutral but that's more to its plodding pace than any great skill of the producers, I'd guess. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Wall

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Wall

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Movie Info

Synopsis When is the price of safety too high? How about when it disrupts one's way of life or makes existence into a prison? In this documentary, the filmmakers chronicle the building of an enormous wall designed to keep the Palestinian sections of Israel apart, while considering repercussions -- including those political, social and environmental. Interviews center around government officials and those living near the wall, with the barrier occasionally looming in the frame like its own character.
Director
Simone Bitton
Producer
Thierry Lenouvel
Screenwriter
Simone Bitton
Production Co
Ciné-Sud Promotion, Centre National de la Cinematographie
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
Arabic
Release Date (Theaters)
May 17, 2004, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 3, 2016
Runtime
1h 36m