Reviews

Book Review: "Reporting from Ramallah" (2003)

Tina Dybvik 11 December 2003


In the foreword to Reporting from Ramallah: An Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land (2003), filmmaker and activist Rachel Leah Jones describes Amira Hass’ body of work as the complete story on the confiscation of land, paving of bypass roads, and expansion of Israeli settlements. These 37 selected writings form a shorter chronological account aimed primarily at a target audience of Israeli Jews. Hass is an Israeli journalist and recipient of the UNESCO Guillermo Camo World Press Freedom Prize for 2003. From 1993 to 1997, she reported exclusively from Gaza. Tina Dybvik reviews Hass’ new book. 

Art review: Mind, Body and Soul of Palestine - A Photo Journal Exhibit

Maureen Clare Murphy 9 October 2003


In Mind, Body and Soul of Palestine: A Photo Journal Exhibit, time, imagery, and stereotype are challenged and contradicted. Indeed, some of the imagery in the photographs contradict each other, causing the viewer to reconsider what they know about this country called Palestine that is constantly being reported but seldom understood. The show is presented by al-PHAN (which stands for Palestinian Humanities and Arts Now), a Chicago-based not-for-profit organization, and will be traveling around the U.S through next spring. 

Theater Review: Jamil Khoury's "Precious Stones"

Maureen Clare Murphy 1 August 2003


When a playwright tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, sexual identity issues, class issues, Arab-American community issues, and Jewish-American community issues (among others), in a 90-minute play, not much room is left for anything else — like character development and breathing room. And that’s the main trouble with Jamil Khoury’s Precious Stones. Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the play for EI. 

Film review: James Longley's "Gaza Strip" (2002)

Nigel Parry 29 July 2003


Cover of the video/DVD. James Longley’s Gaza Strip is a 74-minute documentary filmed between January and April 2001, a period that stretches from four months after the beginning of the Second Palestinian Intifada — immediately preceding the election of Ariel Sharon as Israel’s prime minister — up to the end of Sharon’s third month in office. “I made this film,” Longley notes in the director’s commentary that accompanies the very highly recommended DVD version, “to satisfy my own curiosity about what was happening in the Gaza Strip since I found that it was very difficult to find information in the mainstream media and get a detailed look at what was going on, what people there were like, what they were thinking about.” EI’s Nigel Parry reviews the film. 

People like us: a review of "Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians: For my parents"

Maureen Clare Murphy 21 July 2003


Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that prove the most resonant. Take Seth Tobocman’s Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians: For My Parents. The book, a collection of drawings and thoughts, is the end product of the author’s month-long tour of Israel and Palestine during June, 2002. Tobocman was accommodated by the International Solidarity Movement and a visited a West Bank hospital, took a night-time bus ride in Israel, and worked as an art teacher during a summer school session in the West Bank village of Dir Ibzia — sketching what he encountered. Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the book for EI. 

Documentary review: "Jeremy Hardy vs. the Israeli Army"

Maureen Clare Murphy 27 May 2003


Although the film Jeremy Hardy vs. the Israeli Army was “on one hand [intended for] a British audience,” as explained by director Leila Sansour, it also aimed to communicate to the rest of the world that Palestine isn’t just a land of “sad faces and dead bodies.” Sansour wanted to show a universal audience “that it’s a hospitable place” like the Palestine that lives in her memory. Maureen Clare Murphy writes about Sansour’s documentary about the ISM. 

Film review: Rana's Wedding

Maureen Clare Murphy 29 April 2003


It is not often that movie audiences, American ones especially, see a female heroine that doesn’t need a man to save her or doesn’t wear stiletto heels and a short skirt while overcoming hurdles. And that’s why I like Rana of Rana’s Wedding so much. Not only was she smart enough to wear sensible shoes and comfortable clothes while running through town searching for her boyfriend, but she solved her problems all on her own. EI writer Maureen Clare Murphy reviews “Rana’s Wedding” at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival. 

Film reviews: Nizar Hassan's "Istiqlal" and "Invasion"

Maureen Clare Murphy 29 April 2003


There are a lot of difficult questions that Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians alike must ask themselves in order to better understand this conflict that they are all a party to. Director Nizar Hassan is not afraid to critique attitudes, primarily among Palestinians, that he finds problematic. By using his own quest for answers as an example, he reflects to his audience that they too can get a dialogue rolling. EI contributor Maureen Clare Murphy reviews two films at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival. 

Review: Diary of a Male Whore

Maureen Clare Murphy 21 April 2003

In Tawfiq Abu Wael’s Diary of a Male Whore, the main character, a young man who states, “My physical pleasures make me forget the hunger,” finds that humiliation is the way of life in an occupied land. EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the film at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival. 

Review: Lord's Song in a Strange Land

Maureen Clare Murphy 21 April 2003

Nicholas Dembowski’s video, Lord’s Song in a Strange Land is a clever montage of found footage from Hollywood movies, cable news networks, European news stations, old Western films and edited it as though to let his viewers channel surf through the American media’s representation of what it considers “the Arab world.” EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the film at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival.