Five Broken Cameras Essay

The film “Five Broken Cameras” by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi portrays the essence of injustice in oppression by offering a raw, unfiltered and rich look into the lives of the most vulnerable of Palestinians. The Palestinian farmers who live in the disputed region, where Israel has since erected a large fence, lived through a period of great oppression in which their government offered little to no protection for their families or lands. To capture the importance of their experience it is necessary to experience a full version of their communities existence in all its complex beauty. As Mike Hoolboom states in his article From Lebanon to Kelowna: an interview with Jayce Salloum, “As we’ve come to know the Palestinian condition, it’s been

By mixing the full experience of the villagers the elements of beauty inherent to a full treatment of an oppressed existence can be shared with the audience. Examples of this mixture of the intricacies of life with the tragedies of oppression are available throughout Five Broken Cameras. Emad’s conversation with his son, Gibreel, following the death of El-Phil, when the young boy asks his father why he doesn’t just take knife and kill the Israeli soldiers is prime example of aspect of the struggle that demonstrates the aspect of the experience that can keep an audience engaged and relating Emad even in the wake of some of the film’s most graphic displays of violence. From a human level it is easier to understand Emad’s struggle to raise his family in this environment and attempt to maintain his dignity in the face of the often humiliating injustice of the Israeli occupation and with a full treatment of the experience in all it’s complex and raw glory it is possible to transcend the violence and realize the lasting impact of such an experience. “Five Broken Cameras” accomplishes its goal of communicating core of existence under oppression and provides a unique glimpse into a world that is hard to look at and even more