Tears of Gaza

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  • Opened September 21, 2012 
  • 1 hr 30 min
  • Disturbing, powerful and emotionally devastating, TEARS OF GAZA is less a conventional documentary than a record – presented with minimal gloss – of the 2008 to 2009 bombing of Gaza by the Israeli military. Photographed by several Palestinian cameramen both during and after the offensive, this powerful film by director Vibeke Løkkeberg focuses on the impact of the attacks on the civilian population. The film shuttles between the actual bombings and the aftermath on the streets and in the hospitals. The footage of the bombs landing is indelible and horrifying, but it is on par with much of the explicit imagery on hand. White phosphorous bombs rain over families and children, leaving bodies too charred to be identified. The footage here is extremely graphic and includes children’s bodies being pulled from ruins. Recounting the horrors she has witnessed, one young girl collapses and sinks out of the frame. Full synopsis

  • Director: Vibeke Lökkeberg
  • Genres: Documentary

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Critic Reviews

90
The New York Times
| Jeannette Catsoulis

Woven together, these monologues of bereavement and confusion, illustrated with images so terrible they repel rational explanation, form a tapestry of human misery that's impossible to shake off. Read full review

75
Slant Magazine
| Andrew Schenker

There's no coddling the audience in Vibeke Løkkeberg's verité heave of disgust as the full consequences on the Palestinian people of Operation Cast Lead are made sickeningly clear. Read full review

70
Village Voice
|

This is the very unsterile subject of the film: the unimaginable violence with which families were sundered, to which this film makes you a witness. The cameras linger on the faces of children as they tell their stories, unaffected and open. Read full review

50
Los Angeles Times
| Kenneth Turan

Tears of Gaza is both horrifying and frustrating. This documentary's goals are noble ones, but its execution is something else again. Read full review

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Amira in "Tears of Gaza."