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06/24/06
The Wall (2004)
70 %
Reviews Counted: 30 Fresh: 21 Rotten:9 Average Rating: 5.9/10
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Synopsis: Simone Bitton, director of this thoughtful documentary, was born in Morocco to Jewish parents. She speaks Arabic, French, and Hebrew, identifies as both an Arab and a Jew, and finds herself entirely conflicted by the barrier being erected along the border between Israel and Gaza. The film is... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Reviews
Top Critic Top Critic
[There are] numerous shots %u2013 some of them several minutes long %u2013 when there is no talk on the soundtrack....they may be an attempt at some kind of poetic meditation, but they merely come across as dull.
12/15/05
Top Critic
Bitton poses the important questions, but too often she lets powerful responses get lost amid footage that lingers forever on some mundane location shot while interviews are happening mostly off camera.
10/28/05
The problem I have is that it stretches out the minutes like the wall stretches out for miles. It’s an interesting subject that would be better served as a documentary short.
10/08/05
While all this might have made for a potent short subject, the abstract visual monotony begins to wear thin shortly into the 98-minute running time.
10/05/05
Top Critic
Top Critic
Bitton is Frederick Wiseman-obsessive about the practical details that make this horrific arrangement work, but she's also an unabashed polemicist.
09/22/05
Allows audience members to make up their own minds about the efficacy and morality of the wall separating Israel from the West Bank.
09/05/05
Her film does, however, brilliantly demonstrate how this barricade is a metaphor for all that is wrong in the area. Sadly, it’s a concrete metaphor.
08/30/05
Bitton slyly layers numerous interviews with locals atop the visuals, infusing each scene with an unexpectedly potent context.
08/26/05
The strongest moments of this remarkable film are the quietest, when Bitton simply lets the camera run.
08/26/05
A documentary about the modern Israeli Maginot Line that keeps peace at bay as effectively as it limits terrorists.
08/26/05
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