I went to Gaza to search for a friend without an address- end crawl
Shot on MiniDV in 2001 by the director Kamal Aljafari when he went in search of a friend he knew in prison WITH HASAN IN GAZA is a look at the way Gaza used to be. In it we can see the roots of todays disaster with evidence of bombing and of Israeli control. Its a film that shows us what has been lost.
As timely as the film is, and as bittersweet as the film is, the film has one key problem and that the film's slice of life construction isn't always compelling. While some sections are more interesting than others, a bit too much of this comes off as watching someone's home movie. While I completely understand why that is, we are supposed to see life in Gaza a quarter century ago, it doesn't always work as intended and we drift in and out.
The truth is the most moving section of the film is the long crawl that ends the film. While it is enhanced by the footage that went before, it is strong enough that even if you just see that section of the film you are going to feel gut punched.
I like the film, and I love what it is trying to do, but I wish it was more compelling.
No comments:
Post a Comment