The film mixes documentary with fiction in a very subtle way, and uses the prisoners to build a prison to re-enact their prison days, with the backdrop of their daily norms. Like the marriage of Anbar Ghannan. All that said. the film is a kind of therapy for these guys and a way to let their anger out, which manifest itself clearly during the period of the film to a point makes you feel; that they're going to tear the prison down at the end, so all of the agony they felt during the prison days be over. And can now start a new life, a normal life even. It's a very emotional and smart film that basically, forces you to feel for the characters even if you don't know anything about Palestine and the Palestinian people, and the political situation. All in all the film is excellent, and highly recommended. Hope you enjoy it.
Plot summary
Director Raed Andoni places a newspaper advertisement in Ramallah. He is looking for former inmates of the Moskobiya interrogation centre in Jerusalem. In his ad he asks that the men should also have experience as craftsmen, architects or actors. After a casting process that almost feels like role play, he arranges for a replica of the centre's interrogation rooms and cells to be built to scale inside a hall - under close supervision from the former inmates and based on their memories. In this realistic setting the men subsequently re-enact their interrogations, discuss details about the prison, and express the humiliation they experienced during their detention. Using techniques that are reminiscent of the so-called 'theatre of the oppressed' they work together to dramatise their real-life experiences. Their reconstruction brings long repressed emotions and undealt with trauma to the fore. Working on the film takes its toll on the men - both physically and mentally. The director also appears in front of the camera; not only is he creating a stage for his protagonists, he is also coming to terms with his own fragmented memories of imprisonment in Moskobiya thirty years previously.
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Diffiult to know where reality ends and begins...
The film begins with the director recruiting actors--particularly ex-inmates at the Israeli jail named Moskobiya. They all work together to build a reproduction of the inside of the place and later they all play roles.
Much of the movie looks like the movie of the making of the movie. And, because of this, it really takes away from the impact of the subject matter...violations of human rights in Israeli jails. I also found it VERY ironic that much of the film was financed by Abu Dhabi...a country with a horrendous record on human rights and prisoners. Plus, while I am not excusing Israeli treatment of Palestian prisoners (it's wrong and should be exposed),it made me think that the anti-Israel deflects from the problem that abuse of prisoners is NOT an isolated problem of one nation but, sadly, many.
Overall, the film is mildly interesting but could have been much, much stronger and impactful had it taken a different filmmaking approach.