From Ground Zero: Stories from Gaza (2024)
Directed by: Twenty-two filmmakers from Gaza
Premise: A compilation of twenty-two short films created by residents of the Gaza Strip during the war between Palestine and Israel that started in 2023.
What Works: From Ground Zero provides a panoramic view of life among people living in the Gaza Strip by giving voice to a wide variety of filmmakers, subjects, and points of view. It is not an overtly political film. The producers and directors are not concerned with the why or how of the war or the history between Palestine and Israel. The overall intention of From Ground Zero is to make the viewer see the humanity of the people on the ground and to insist that they be regarded as more than labels like “refugees” or statistics of collateral damage. In a broad sense, that is political and From Ground Zero is a success. The people profiled are distinct and their humanity is captured on film. A lot of the segments are slice of life documentaries in which Palestinian filmmakers document their day-to-day activities while surviving in a warzone which mostly amounts to finding drinkable water, food, and firewood while staying out of the way of bombs and bullets. There is a lot else to the film aside from the misery of war. Some of the subjects address their personal and artistic aspirations that have been derailed by the war. The segment “Sorry Cinema” is directed by Palestinian filmmaker Ahmad Hassouna who paradoxically creates a film about his inability to create a film. “Everything is Fine,” directed by Nidal Damo, profiles a standup comedian whose home club has been destroyed but who endeavors to perform anyway amid the rubble. These segments and the film itself are a testament to the persistence of artists to create even in the worst of conditions. The various filmmakers take a range of stylistic approaches. Some segments are straightforward and journalistic in nature while others are fictional and a few use animation or dolls crafted from available materials. Like a lot of anthologies, From Ground Zero features a range of styles and subjects, and if one segment doesn’t capture the viewer’s interest it’s not long before the film gets to another short that will.
What Doesn’t: The sheer number of voices in From Ground Zero is both an asset and a liability. There are twenty-two segments in this 115 minute film; each short is about five minutes. That offers enough time to introduce the person being profiled and establish the topic but it does not allow much time for exploration. Showing us these people and their hopes, fears, and aspirations serves the filmmaker’s rhetorical goals but everything is pretty perfunctory. There isn’t much space for depth or complexity.
Bottom Line: From Ground Zero impresses in its breadth and variety. Given the conditions in which it was made, the very fact of its existence is itself an accomplishment and in years to come this will be a relevant time capsule. For viewers who have paid attention to what’s happened in Gaza since October 2023 (and even for those who haven’t) From Ground Zero won’t tell us much about the conflict. But the goal here is to put a human face on this catastrophe and in that respect the movie succeeds.
Episode: #1031 (January 12, 2025)