Gillian Mosely’s thoughtful movie about Israel/Palestine raises important issues and discusses the historical background going back to the British mandate after the first world war – it’s surprising how many British parliamentarians still behave as if all this has nothing to do with them. Above all, Mosely emphasises that eternal liberal imperative: that everyone involved should simply keep talking.
The film avowedly comes from the director’s own perspective: having grown up in a Jewish and pro-Zionist family in Britain, she has come to question it all and sympathise with the Palestinians. And if we feel that for all this film’s supposed evenhandedness she is indeed doing exactly this – favouring the Palestinian side – well, perhaps that is inevitably part of the peace process. If the status quo is to be changed then it is the overdogs who have to give ground.
