CENSORED VOICES

Israel, 2015, 84 minutes, Colour and Black and white.
Amos Oz.
Directed by Mor Loushy.

Censored Voices is an award-winning documentary from Israel, focusing on the Six Day War, almost half a century earlier.

Response to the film will depend on audience attitude towards that war, towards the way the State of Israel has related to Palestinians and neighbouring countries since the declaration of 1948. Fewer than 20 years after this declaration, Israel went to battle with its neighbours including Syria, Jordan and Egypt and soundly defeated then within a very short time. Jerusalem was unified, the status of Gaza and West Bank changed, and while there were dreams of a Palestinian state, they still have not eventuated, and, indeed, the situation has worsened with the building of so many settlements in the hostilities of the settlers, and as well as the different intifada and terrorist attacks.

This documentary something of an exposé.

After the soldiers returned from the war, many to a kibbutz, a group of young men went into the kibbutz, filming and taping the returning soldiers. These records were suppressed for many years, only a limited amount of material being made available.

What has happened now is that the young men of almost half a century of, the soldiers and the interviewers. The interview is went to meet some of The soldiers and get retrospective perspective. One of the leaders of the interviewers was the celebrated author, Amos Oz. The interviews with him in the past and in the present are one of the main advantages of the film, a prominent citizen, a prominent writer, his action in 1967, his reflections decades later.

The film has interviews in the present, but the significance of the film is in the content of the interviews with the young men returning from war in 1967, not feeling as if the victors, not exactly sure what they had fought for, not appreciating the results, making comments on this experience of battle, the effect on them, the effect on families (and some grieving mothers), not exactly an endorsement of the victory in the war.

Also included is news footage of some of the battles, the impact on the soldiers, woundings and deaths, return from war.

The film is brief, is well put together, as a look at the past with more critical eyes, challenges for the audience to reassess the war and its impact, its consequences – for succeeding decades and for succeeding generations.