🇵🇸Palestinian Film Fest 2024 Review - Resistance, Why?
Images courtesy of Original Spin.
“This is not just a fight for a piece of land[…]This is a right of a whole people.”
Resistance, Why? is one of few documentaries in this year’s Palestinian Film Festival. The film is playing at Nova cinema on March 16th, and is well worth a watch. It comprises two prints by Christian Ghazi that were digitised in recent years to produce a 53 minute documentary: an education on the state of Palestine during the 1970s. This is an initiation of conversation around a country striving to fight back for their land and their freedom. Knowing where we are in history now, following the October 7th attacks and the disproportionate and genocidal response from Israel, it’s a harrowing watch.
This documentary is laden with footage of young resistance fighters, intercut with activist interviews discussing the history of Palestine. Whilst the documentary style is generally very factual, it doesn’t attempt to draw sympathy with anecdotal evidence or emotional interviews, instead creating a reaction of shock and a feeling of injustice. We listen to the people leading the ideology of resistance, as they talk about a free Palestine, a “one” Palestine, where Jews, Christians and Muslims live together. They talk about a home where their people are dignified.
It is disturbing to watch footage of children learning militant drills and wielding knives, and it’s unfair that their innocent years are being robbed from them by the occupation. The title is perfect; Resistance,Why?. When a people have a right to self-determination, a right to defend their land and their people, is it right to label Hamas as blatantly as a terrorist organisation? Shouldn’t we question why a country requires a violent resistance to oppression? Shouldn’t the IDF soldiers who are fighting for the Israeli government then be considered a terrorist organisation if we define Hamas as such? These questions, raised by this documentary, are worth consideration.
“If you are a Jew, the law of return gives you the right to become an Israeli citizen the day you step foot in [inaudible] airport in Palestine. But if you were a non-Jew, you were a Christian or a Muslim or an Atheist for that matter, who have lived in Palestine all your life, and have your fathers, grandfathers and ancestors always living in Palestine - you have no right to return to that land, and live in the house in which you lived and acquire citizenship to the country to which you belong.”
This is one of the most important films in this year’s festival. I would implore anyone wanting to learn more about Palestinian history to watch it.
Free Palestine.
Resistance, Why? is screening as part of the 2024 Palestinian Film Festival. For tickets and more info, click here.
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