Tears of Gaza - Vibeke Løkkeberg
I am in Sweden at the moment and I have, for once, managed to time my visit with the Gothenburg International Film Festival. As always with festivals you run around and try to see as much as you can but there was one film that really stuck with me. Tears of Gaza by Norwegian filmmaker Vibeke Løkkeberg. It is one of those exhausting movies to watch, disturbing yet important. The plot revolves around three children and their families during the 2008-2009 bombings of Gaza, by the Israeli military.
It shows the reality of war and its real victims, civilians and children. Uncensored and unnarrated it sends a raw message to the viewer without forcing you to choose a political standpoint. It is also a great example in the discussion of todays media censorship. I believe by not showing the full consequences of conflicts make us oblivious to what war really stand for and who the real victims are. In the news we are shown bombs falling, in Tears of Gaza we are shown where they land.
Oscar Wilde once said, ‘As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have it’s fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar it ceases to be popular’. Tears of Gaza is vulgar and because of that it becomes a strong antidote, not just the atrocities in Gaza, but to war in general.
