TIFF entries spotlight Middle East’s political and personal conflicts
TORONTO — The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has taken a back seat in recent days to the Arab Spring, but at the Toronto International Film Festival an unusually high number of films shine fresh light on the decades-long conflict.
Such dramas as The Attack and Out in the Dark explore the human side of the strife, while documentaries such as State 194 and The Gatekeepers offer insight into the politics behind the conflict through interviews with top political and security players.
In The Attack, Palestinian actor Ali Suliman plays Amin, a prominent Arab surgeon living a comfortable life in Tel Aviv. Amin’s cosy existence is shattered when he learns his wife is responsible for a suicide bombing that killed 17 people.
Based on the book by Yasmina Khadra, The Attack plays on the human elements in acts of betrayal, while also offering insight into how precarious life can be for Arabs living in Israel.
“Even if you live in that bubble, trying to pretend that the conflict is far away — eventually the conflict seeps back in,” said the film’s director, Ziad Doueiri.
Another drama putting a fresh spin on the Israel-Palestine divide is Out in the Dark, a love story by first-time director Michael Mayer that centres on a gay lawyer, Roy, who falls in love with a Palestinian graduate student, Nimr.
The budding relationship is complicated when Nimr’s visa is suddenly revoked and he faces deportation from Tel Aviv.
The film offers a rare glimpse into the risky lives of gay Palestinians living on the fringe in Tel Aviv, while grim shots of the towering West Bank fence aim to bring home the message of a lack of freedom for Palestinians.
“When the politics enter the personal, people get up and fight for it,” said Mayer of his approach to the film. “It feels more compelling to me when it’s told through a personal story.”
Dror Moreh’s documentary The Gatekeepers is a riveting inside account of Israel’s intelligence gathering through interviews with six former heads of Shin Bet, the Israeli intelligence agency.
The documentary, which has attracted possible awards buzz for its unusual access to the security chiefs, also offers insight into assassinated leader Yitzhak Rabin and the dangers some see in Israel’s religious political right.
“I don’t take politicians seriously any more,” one of the chiefs says in the film, suggesting it is political leaders more than violence that acts as a barrier to peace. In the end, most chiefs profess that peace talks, not military action, is the only way forward, and point to a bleak future.
The future is slightly brighter in Dan Setton’s documentary State 194, which follows Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on his two-year journey to have the nation recognized by the United Nations as an independent state.
Featuring interviews with Israel’s former foreign minister Tzipi Livni and numerous activists on both sides, State 194 pushes a two-state solution to end the conflict.
“The Israelis want quiet, peace,” Setton said. “But the Palestinians want freedom. They want to end the occupation. It’s not like they are on the same level.”