Jeremy Hardy vs. the Israeli Army (2003)
3.8 of 5 from 45 ratings
75 minutes
- General info
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- Synopsis:
Britain might just have found its very own Michael Moore. This outstanding documentary from film-maker Leila Sansour follows the stand-up comedian Jeremy Hardy as he travels to the occupied West Bank in Easter 2002 at the invitation of the International Solidarity Movement of Palestine. There he experiences for himself the brutality and heavy-handedness of the Israeli military under the Sharon administration - and Hardy is refreshingly honest about how very, very frightened he gets, realising that the army has no compunction about shooting at protesters like him with real bullets. Like the Duke of Wellington, he's also quite terrified by his own side, the ISM, who he initially suspects of being vainglorious danger-fetishists. The sight of the wisecracking comic turning emulsion-white with fear brings home the situation with more power than any news broadcast. One thing gave me pause. One of the ISM volunteers talks about spending time with the family of a suicide bomber. The film never explicitly addresses the crunch question: does the nature of the Israeli occupation justify suicide bombing? Or does it, perhaps, to use the usual evasive formulation, "explain" or "put into context" terrorism? Is there a real difference, or are these distinctions just casuistry? And do centuries of genocidal anti-semitism justify or explain or put into context the behaviour of the Israeli army? Whatever your views, this riveting film shows in living colour how the occupying forces display what GK Chesterton called "bully-ism": a neurotic, belligerent love of picking on the underdog. - Actors:
- Nicholas Blincoe, Jeremy Hardy, Leila Sansour, Adam Shapiro
- Directors:
- Leila Sansour
- Genres:
- Documentary
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