It’s difficult to review No Other Land, a documentary by a group of Palestinian and Israeli activist film-makers on the destruction of villages in the West Bank, on a formal level. The usual rubric for evaluating non-fiction cinema does not really extend to films whose existence was actively challenged throughout filming, whose makers’ equipment and livelihood were constantly at risk. A good portion of the film, which was selected for this year’s New York film festival and won best documentary at the Berlin film festival (to politicized charges of antisemitism and death threats against its makers), is composed of amateur video footage by Basel Adra, who began filming the Israeli occupation of his village in Masafer Yatta at the age of 15, in the name of evidence.
That evidence put forth by the directors – Adra, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, Palestinian film-maker and farmer Hamdan Ballal and Israeli cinematographer and editor Rachel Szor – is straightforward, un-sensationalized and completely infuriating. There is nothing to say that has not already been said on the case for Palestinian sovereignty, the war crimes of the Israeli government and the moral clarity of those who call for an end to violence and occupation. No Other Land, should it make it to theaters – the film is, perhaps unsurprisingly, still seeking distribution in the US – ensures that people cannot deny it; that there exists a model of coexistence and mutual safety between Palestinians and Israelis; and that there is no justification for the campaign of wanton destruction and despair in the West Bank, just as in Gaza and now Lebanon.
