In the Land of Pomegranates

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Audience Member In the Land of Pomegranates attempted to show a long-standing conflict with some kind of balance. But from the beginning, and opening with ï¿ 1/2this land is promised to us in the Torahï¿ 1/2Â?, I was surprised at how this movie focused so much on the Israeli perspective, and much less to the Palestinian narrative. The movie jacket focuses on intense discussions between twenty-something Israelis and Palestinians during an event in Germany called Vacation from War. These discussions were confrontational, and brought up resentments, accusations and even a poignant epiphany from an Israeli woman, which I found to be the highlight of the whole documentary. But there was a lot of switching back and forth from discussions, to interviews, to bloody streets scenes in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem resulting from Palestinian suicide bombers. I kept wondering when the movie would show Israelï¿ 1/2(TM)s destruction of Gaza, or its demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, but these scenes were not forthcoming. Although the movie was released in 2018, the discussions happened in 2007. What this means is that the participants did not discuss some truly horrendous events that happened since gathering together - the building of many more Israeli settlements on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank, illegal under international law, and three major assaults by Israel on Gazaï¿ 1/2(TM)s 1.8 million people, resulting in the deaths of 3700 Palestinians, plus destruction of important infrastructure. Therefore, discussions over a decade ago have less relevancy for todayï¿ 1/2(TM)s viewers, for such discussions would be very different now. The few interviews went on far too long, such as the trauma of PTSD experienced by an Israeli man injured by a suicide bomber, which also had a huge impact on his family. But no PTSD trauma interviews were given to Palestinians, despite family members being shot or killed. Another Israeli, a woman living beside the border wall with Gaza who spoke about Israel needing to keep her secure, was also given a lot of movie time. But we saw no interview of life in Gaza on the other side of the wall. And a very long story (perhaps totalling 15 minutes) showed a Palestinian mother escorting her young child from Gaza to an Israeli hospital where he would receive needed heart surgery. Unfortunately, the filmmaker chose to have the movieï¿ 1/2(TM)s viewers endure far too much walking down hallways and time spent with doctors. And I cannot shake the feeling that this story was manipulative, included to show that Israel does indeed have compassion for a Palestinian child. Yet we were certainly not informed about Israelï¿ 1/2(TM)s lack of compassion for the 300+ Palestinian children held in Israeli jails for standing up to their oppressors. Ultimately, this documentary failed to offer any understanding of Palestinian resistance to Israelï¿ 1/2(TM)s harsh military occupation of more than 50 years. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member Unfortunately, by the end of this meandering yet fascinating documentary, viewers are left with the impression that such attempts to bridge gaps and heal wounds, however well-intentioned, will have, at best, extremely limited success. Already saw it on boxxy software. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews

In the Land of Pomegranates

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