This Oscar-nominated feature documentary, directed by two Israelis and two Palestinians, did not start out as a documentary. Since 2019, the directors have jointly and sometimes separately recorded the actions of the Israeli military, as well as Israeli settlers, in the occupied West Bank, specifically an area called Masafer Yatta, which is made up of 19 Palestinian villages that have been gradually decimated, ostensibly to make room for a “military training zone.” Many of the people who reside in the area, farmers, goat herders, etc., have lived there all their lives. Some say their families have been there since the 19th century, but for decades the Israelis have been seizing their land, saying that the people who live there don’t have any claim to it, which is a Catch-22 situation. Since the occupation, anyone who builds on land in the West Bank must receive a permit to do so from the military, and, according to the film, 99 percent of permits requested by Palestinians are denied, so the military has the right to tear down anything the villagers set up. 

The filmmakers record a lot of demolition, as well as the frantic reaction of the people whose homes are being destroyed. They also record peaceful Palestinian demonstrations, which the Israelis say are illegal and are often met with violence. We see several unarmed people shot simply for not doing what they are told. Two of the directors, Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist who speaks fluent Arabic, and Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist with a law degree who grew up in Masafer Yatta, often appear on screen discussing the Israeli tactics, whose purpose is clearly to erase the Palestinian presence in the West Bank. They talk to the displaced, many of whom had to move into the caves in the vicinity because every time they try to rebuild their homes in the middle of the night the Israelis come back and tear them down. The two men and their co-directors, who do most of the filming, originally started the project to inform the world on a day-by-day basis of what is going on in the West Bank, but except for a few independent media like Democracy Now, they’ve drawn little attention. Then they hit on the idea of assembling and editing all the video into an integrated documentary, and the result has been a lot more attention, not to mention an Academy Award nomination.

It’s a grueling 90 minutes to sit through. In addition to the exhaustion and despair of the Palestinian residents on display, the friendship of Adra and Abraham is always being tested, mainly because at the end of every day Abraham can go back to Israel, back to a comfortable home; while Adra is forbidden to travel out of the occupied West Bank. This dynamic is as infuriating as anything in the movie because it exemplifies the apartheid system that Israel refuses to acknowledge. Certainly, the smug oppression of the settlers (“Go ahead, write your little articles,” one taunts Adra) speaks volumes about the blatant racism at the heart of the issue. No Other Land doesn’t have to explain anything. All the filmmakers had to do was just stand there and record. The cruelty and hatred is there for anyone to see. 

In Arabic, Hebrew and English. Opens Feb. 21 in Tokyo at Toho Cinemas Chanter Hibiya (050-6868-5001).

No Other Land home page in Japanese

photo (c) 2024 Antipode Films. Yabayay Media