PRECIOUS LIFE
Israel, 2010, 90 minutes. Colour.
Directed by Shlomi Eldar.
In a rather intense conversation during this moving documentary, Raida, a Muslim mother from Gaza who is in an Israeli hospital with her baby son who was born with no immune system, declares that, for her, life is not precious. Rather, she says, it is ‘normal’. So is death. She sees this as part of her Muslim faith. The director, Shlomi Eldar, offscreen, says that life is precious, from that of the little baby to all people. He has been a war correspondent for Israeli media in Gaza for many years and has witnessed death.
This conversation is at the core of Precious Life. It shows two vastly different points of view about life and the conclusions that can be drawn from those beliefs, especially in the context of the long conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The two go on to speak about Jerusalem, who owns the city (both lay claim) and whether it could be shared with the other side (Raida saying it could not). This makes Shlomi angry.
Yet, the film is about peace and life and being able to get to know the other side, helping and hoping that the next generation (or the one after) will have children who can play with one another.
The narrative of the film is not about peace and war as such although war is never far away and, in fact, erupts at the end of 2008, the film offering vivid footage of the bombardment of Palestinian villages and homes – and some Israelis asking whether such massive retaliation is in proportion to the attacks by Palestinian rockets.
The narrative of the film is about life. An Israeli doctor, concerned about the baby and the dangers to its life, offers the facilities of an Israeli hospital. The film director heads an appeal for donations for surgery and is quickly successful with money from an anonymous donor (whose son had been killed in fighting and who wanted to make his life one of helping people live). The doctor is admirable – and is called up to be a field doctor in the war which followed. The Palestinian couple are ordinary people. She has strong opinions (and can speak good English). He is more neutral, although, when his wife becomes pregnant again, we see he is of a patriarchal frame of mind. The divisions between Israel and Gaza are evident, not only in the war footage, but in the difficulties experienced by Palestinians at the checkpoints, at one stage, the baby allowed in but the mother kept at the border. The film ends with Raida’s first visit to Jerusalem and her feeling she cannot enter the mosque because she has just given birth. The camera focuses on her face.
Precious Life lives up to its title – and its message emphasises the need for talk, mutual understanding and co-operation so that precious life is preserved not destroyed.
1. The title? The references during the film? Raida and her not valuing life as precious? Her explanations? The contrast with the Israelis and others? Life, even of an individual, being precious? The focus on the young baby and its growth?
2. The director, his background, reporting in Gaza, the long time as war correspondent? Setting the tone about an Israeli-Palestinian? story? Contemporary Gaza? Contemporary Israel? The reportage seen on Israeli television?
3. The suggestion for the film, the director and his interest, the Jewish-Palestinian? relationships, the hospital and its facilities, the differences between hospitals in Gaza and those in Israel? The crossing and the checkpoints? Treatment of the Palestinians? The experience of war? The aftermath? The possibilities of collaboration? The invitation to the director to publicise the story for Israeli television?
4. Communication: Hebrew, Arabic, English? The title of the film in the three languages?
5. Audience stances on Gaza, the uprisings, the government of Hamas? The Palestinians and the bombardments? Their experience and suffering? The firing of rockets into Israel? Israel and its security? Israel’s affluence, defence? The issue of whether the bombardments were too much in comparison with the injuries to Israelis?
6. Raida and her husband, the baby, no immune system, the doctor and his offer, the family going to Israel, the hospital and its facilities, the nurses and their work, the surgery and the transplant, the recuperation? The details of the ward, the doors being closed, the limits on the air? Healing?
7. The donation and the need for the child’s immune system and bone marrow transplant? The director and his appeal on television? The donor giving the money, his reasons, anonymity? The later phone call and Raida thanking him? The dedication of the film to him? A success story?
8. The director and Raida, the director off-screen? The long takes of Raida and her speaking, her thinking, her smile? Speaking in English? The discussions, issues about precious life, death? Suicide bombers? Islamic understandings of life, the afterlife, death as normal? Israelis and the preciousness of life? The issue of the boy being used as a shield, growing up to be a shield? The director’s anger, Raida’s comments about his anger? The convictions of both? Jerusalem, the role of Mohammed in Jerusalem? Each side owning the city? Muslims not willing to share Jerusalem with the Israelis?
9. The husband and his neutrality, love for his wife, the children, the death of the two little girls from the same disease, the surviving daughters and the son? The visits?
10. The outbreak of the war, going home, the reportage of the war, the visuals of the bombardment, the director on television, the phone calls with the doctor, with the Palestinian doctor whose daughters were killed? The conversation with Raida?
11. Raida pregnant again, the attitude of the director? The husband? The husband responsible – the patriarch of ideas? The danger for the health of the child? Going to Jerusalem – the difficulties of getting across the border, the child left on its own and the director trying to help? Raida upset, the focus on the birth, the child, the doctor’s response, the good news? Raida and her gratitude? The little boy and his saying thank you in Hebrew?
12. The visualising of the tensions on the border, the checkpoints, the director’s intervention?
13. Raida and her wanting to go to Jerusalem, visiting the city, not visiting the mosque because of having given birth and the Koran, the final look at Raida and the audience reflecting on what they had seen and heard?
14. The hopes for the children of both sides to play together, in peace, the possibility of talk, mutual help, getting to know one another?
