Tears of Gaza (2010)

Norwegian author, actress, screenwriter, producer and director Vibeke Løkkeberg's documentary feature which she wrote and which was made in collaboration with the people of Gaza, is inspired by her observations of children's faces on television and her perception about the population being unfairly stigmatized as terrorists. It premiered in the Reel to Reel section at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival in 2010, was shot by citizens of Gaza and is a Norwegian production which was produced by producer Terje Kristiansen. It tells the story about a fourteen-year-old girl named Amira Fat-hi Dawood El Eren, a twelve-year-old boy named Yahya Subh and an eleven-year-old girl named Rasmia Al- Sultan. Distinctly and subtly directed by Norwegian filmmaker Vibeke Løkkeberg, this quietly paced reportage which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the point of view of three Palestinian children, draws a direct and abrupt portrayal of what the situation and conditions were like for the civilians during a war where they became the victims of the battles between terrorist groups and military forces from the state of Israel who declared their independence in 1948, the state of Palestine who declared their independence in 1988 and who both have claimed the Gaza Strip as their territory and Jerusalem as their capital city. While notable for its real milieu depictions and reverent cinematography by cinematographers Yosuf Abu Shreah, Saed Al Sabaa, Mwafag Al Khateeb and Julie Kristensen, this observational story about the people of a former British colony formerly governed by Egypt (1948-1967), Israel (1967-1994) and then under Palestine authority from 1994, an ongoing historical conflict with political and sectarian undertones and a territorial war between the two middle eastern republics and countries of Israel where most of the population are Israeli Jews and Palestine where most of the population are Sunni Muslims and Arab Christians, emphasizes its attention on the children and families, is so subjective that it risks being regarded as populism and contains a timely score by composers Lisa Gerrard and Marcello De Francici. This recurrently relevant, bilaterally atmospheric and crucially humane documentary feature from the early 2010s which is set in the early 21st century in a city called Gaza in the Levant region during the presidency of Shimon Peres in Israel, Mahmoud Abbas in Palestine and the Gaza War (2008-2009) which resulted in both Palestine and Israel casualties, which lasted for twenty-two days, and where the executioners were praying on the lives of the civilians who were sacrificed for the jurisdiction of an area, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, subtle continuity, multiple perspectives, commendable footage, non-political approach and scenes of the children. A bravely veracious authentication.

Vibeke Lokkeberg's documentary "Tears of Gaza" is one of those films which rips your torso open, and leaves your heart bleeding. What the Norwegian film maker Løkkeberg does here, is something I would never expect from her. I've seen a lot of her earlier films, and besides "Løperjenten" I think they generally stunk. But I glad to say that this film shows what Løkkeberg is capable to make.The film attempts to capture the horrifying feelings the civilians experience during the 22 days long 2008-09 military assault upon Gaza by the Israeli military. Some might say this is pro-Palestinian, but that is a load of BS, because this shows that war isn't about religion or land. War is a crime against humanity, and nothing is black and white. Every war has more than one side. This is about human rights.With raw, unpolished footage with hand held camera Løkkeberg shows disturbing pictures and consequences of war at a time when journalists weren't allowed to get into the area. The situation seems hopeless, and yet still meaningful. At times you cannot help but feel certain scenes are staged, and this only hurts the film because it allows those that do not want to like the film the ability to discount it entirely. But they did come off as big proponents of human rights, and it showed as an underlying theme in Tears of Gaza. The film has highly upsetting scenes of children getting killed both by bombs and by snipers, no more than 2 or 3 years old! But then they are future opponents or terrorists, aren't they!? (Sic!)Both parties in this war, Israeli and Palestinian has committed war crimes by killing civilians. The only distinction is the wast differences of wartime capabilities of each side. Those responsible should all be put up for a war time tribunal for crimes against the human society.Though extremely difficult to watch, and not for the faint of heart, I wish to thank Vibeke Løkkeberg for the courage of showing what war is.

This is one of the purest films I have ever watched, I recommended highly! First of all it is 100% pure footage of what is it like to be on the ground as a witness of what Israel claims to us all over the world as a military targets. A user of IMDb wrote in a review by moacow" we did not see the other side justification for this type of bombing" What a numb-skull user moacow is…How in the world can you or any one justifies bombing a civilian home or a hospital or a school or even shooting with a sniper rifle babies and more. MOACOW YOU CANNOT! that is why you did not see it in the film. Israel does not explain its U.N. and international courts condiment actions to anyone in the world.As an English now American and married to a lovely American Jewish woman, I hope one day soon I will witness peace in Israel! We as people with understanding to life, we cannot let Israel continue the mass murders of Palestinians. Bloody hell! Did you notice the Israeli in-discriminant bombing of Palestinians? What kind of Army men with sniper rifles that shoots at babies and civilians? My grand fathers did not fight the criminal Hitler so Israel can take over his criminal role now they act exactly like if not worse than Hitler. My wife is ashamed of Israel and its despicable treatment of people. That is why we all must not allow Israel to enjoy our hard earned money taxes going to support their criminal behavior. We must pressure Israel to sign the 1948 agreement with the Palestinians. If they do sign it all troubles in the East will stop and maybe for once the world will not look down at our policies regarding the world. Please join me and write to your congressman and senator to pressure Israel in to signing the 1948 agreement with Palestine and stop the bloodshed of innocent people. One cannot claim to be a human being and agree with Israeli violence!

You can compare Tears of Gaza with Passion of the Jew by Mel Gibson in South Park. It is only 90 minutes of people getting slaughtered. I understand that the world should see how horrible Palestine got it, but is it really necessary to show it for 90 minutes? This film does nothing but show one perspective of the conflict, that is OK, but we do not get any briefing on why they are being bombed, we don't even see who the bombers are nor hear anything from them at all. I believe that the film would express more sympathy for Palestine if they i confronted Israel with the photos the got; how can this sort of action be defended? During the film we get three stories from three different children. Yet we also get stories from others during the film, I believe they try to create more sympathy when they hear stories from children. This does not work for me, the stories are also mixed with others and the storyline in this film is... well... a pathetic attempt to get sympathy.I agree that the world should see how they have to live day by day, but this is not the way.