Final Flim Fevistal

Rounded off our NZ Flim Fevistal experience with two more flicks:
Rachel (France/Belgium, 2009)
A doco investigating the death of American protester Rachel Corrie in Palestine, “from an Israeli point of view”. Made by Simone Britton, a Moroccan-French Jew who spent years in Israel. Corrie was a member of the International Solidarity Movement protesting the Israeli occupation in Palestine, and died under a bulldozer. The Israeli Defence Force has claimed that it was an accidental death; the protesters claim it was deliberate. Britton’s investigation doesn’t establish clearly one or the other, but does seriously undermine the IDF position. Mostly, however, the film works to contextualize Corrie’s actions, and make sense of the ISM. Corrie comes out looking both pragmatic and compassionate; Britton juxtaposes Corrie’s written description of her empathy for the young members of the IDF with a former soldier reflecting on his experiences, clearly haunted by the things he did. It’s a good film; everyone gets to speak for themselves. I recommend this excellent interview with Britton, by Andrew O’Hehir at Salon.
Everlasting Moments (Sweden, 2008)
Based-on-true-story account tracking a Swedish family from 1907-1917, centred on the formidable wife and mother Maria Larsson, who wins a camera in a lottery and slowly works out what it can offer her. It steers clear of expectation, avoiding easy resolutions to emotional or narrative dilemmas; it is imagined more gently and more responsibly than that. It’s a great film, frequently funny, more often touching, and above all beautiful – the cinematography has been getting a lot of attention and deservedly so, it all looks incredible. (Like all the best films, it made me think – in particular about the transformational power of the camera, what it means for our experience of life that images can be captured and kept; and how transformational this last century has been, that such images are now so omnipresent.)