There’s a particular scene that takes place in a car in “No Other Land” – Basel, a Palestinian activist living in the Masafer Yatta community in the West Bank, is driving. Yuval, an Israeli journalist, sits in the passenger seat, fretting over the lack of traction his articles about the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Masafer Yatta have been getting so far.
On the one hand, he’s not that surprised. Earlier in the film, someone asks Yuval if people are really interested in reading about Israel’s demolition of homes and communities in the mountain community of Masafer Yatta. His answer? “Honestly? Not many.” And yet, Yuval clearly feels a vested interest in writing this story anyway. When one of the Israeli soldiers tasked with enacting the destruction asks him why he cares, he answers: “I care because it’s all done in my name.”
Basel lightly, but firmly pushes back at Yuval’s good intentions, at his well-meaning belief that if his articles get enough clicks, he can somehow make a difference. You act like you can end the occupation in ten days, Basel says. This is a struggle that has been going on for decades – one that requires patience.
If anybody knows the meaning of the word patience, it’s the residents of Masafer Yatta. “No Other Land” is a documentary that follows the demolition of Masafer Yatta – enacted by Israeli forces – between the years of 2019 and 2023. But this goes back much further. In 1980, Israel declared Masafer Yatta to be a “closed military training zone,” displacing the Palestinian families already living in the area. Due to lengthy legal battles, the military didn’t receive the green light to officially carry out the expulsion until 2022. But petitions could only do so much, and Basel – who was born in 1996 – has lived under a constant cycle of demolition and reconstruction.
He may lightly admonish Yuval for what he calls his “enthusiasm” about getting the word out, but Basel knows how powerful an image can be. “No Other Land,” directed by a group of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers (Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal), captures what is happening to Masafer Yatta from a firsthand point of view, the two young men at its center mirrors for each other and a better path forward.
One of Basel’s first real memories, at age 5, is watching his father, an activist, get arrested. He remembers going to protests as early as age 7. So many of these moments have been captured on video camera, and throughout the film, Basel is always armed with his camera, ready to capture the day’s misdeeds at the drop of a hat. The documentary will unfold as a typical one does, and then all of a sudden you’ll be transported to Basel’s camera, watching as people’s homes are torn down in front of them, or as a school is demolished with children barely feet away from the bulldozer, or as people are shot for trying to intervene.
One of the most striking and harrowing aspects is how used to this everyone seems. In one scene, Basel’s mother casually mentions to him that since he might be arrested that night, he ought to grab a warmer coat. It’s not that she doesn’t care or that she’s not worried – she’s just so horribly used to all this.
“No Other Land” necessarily relies on the power of its visuals, and they are visuals that are difficult to banish from your mind, whether small or large. One of the more harrowing aspects of most of Basel’s encounters with Israeli soldiers is, however often he reminds them that he’s filming, that doesn’t seem to temper their reactions in any way. After Israeli soldiers shoot and paralyze a man named Harun Abu Aram for trying to stop them from taking a generator, his mother is forced to care for him in a cave because their home is gone. We also get numerous shots of Basel watching old footage of his father at his age, knowing that his father is still as embroiled in this struggle as ever and wondering if he has the same strength to carry on.
Before the tragedy of the Oct. 7 attack, and the Hamas-Israeli war that followed, we were not so used to seeing images from the West Bank like the ones “No Other Land” puts forth. These images, however difficult, demand our attention.
The relationship between Yusav and Basel forms the core of this film. They are so similar, almost to the point where to look at them, you might think they were related. But they were born on opposite sides of the coin. Getting the word out about the demolitions clearly means a lot to both of them, but Yusav has a privilege that Basel does not. As an Israeli, Yusav can leave when he needs a break, or when things get to be too much. Basel does not have the same luxury, something the movie makes a point to show us, though not at the expense of the partnership unfolding in front of our eyes in real time. As much as they talk about the destruction unfolding all around them, the differences in how they approach issues, they also rib each other and make jokes. They share meals, they share smoke breaks. They share their lives.
“No Other Land” has been lauded at national and international film festivals alike, and been recognized for its achievements by American critics groups. It even garnered an Oscar nomination. The film has also scored a theatrical release, but, at the time of the publication of this review, it is doing so without the help of an official U.S. distributor. Perhaps this isn’t surprising, given the amount of anxiety and division that’s arisen in the film industry over the Israel-Palestine conflict since Oct. 7 (the film wrapped in October of 2023, but does include a brief coda about the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack in the West Bank). But what better time for a film made via collaboration between Israel and Palestine, an example of hope in action?