Charm, directed by Bashar Al Balbisi, brought me to tears over Kenzi Al Balbis dancing through the nightmare. The same is true for Farah Al Zeriei’s dancing with her white cat despite all the death crushing all life around her in Flashback, directed by Islam Al Zeriei. In this way, From Ground Zero is similar to Hope and Glory in that the focus is on everyone’s resilience to carry on while bombs keep dropping. One of the best fiction pieces, School Day by Ahmed Al Danaf, starring young actor Yahya Saad, is an especially good example of this spirit. It is absolutely heartbreaking in the most important way.
For the quality of the short movies, there isn’t a clinker in the bunch. Even the fragments, like Taxi Wanissa, directed by Etimad Washah, are impressive. This film, featuring a donkey named Wanissa, couldn’t be completed because the director’s family was slaughtered. Washah herself gets on camera to explain this. It is another stark reminder about the conditions under which these films are being made. Awakenings, directed by Mahdi Kreirah, tells a story using marionettes made from tin cans. It is even more poignant knowing at this point that the empty cans are for expired food that costs a fortune on the black market.
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“…a profound cinematic event, proving that movies can be made even on the edge of destruction.”
The most standout showcase in the collection is Soft Skin, directed by Khamis Masharawi. It opens with animation done by children of a blackbird picking up buildings and dropping them to smash on the ground. We then see documentary footage of the animation workshop for children being held in a tent amongst the rubble. The kids are making a cartoon from cut-out drawings about how parents write their children’s names on the children’s arms and legs. This is done in order to identify the bodies from the dismembered limbs left over after a bombing. It is details like this that draw out the deep horrors of civilians being caught in a war.
The impact of the images of wrecked Gaza that appear here and that have spread through the internet is reminiscent of how the graphic imagery of a war zone on TV during the Vietnam War broadened conflict perspective. Israel is never mentioned, though it is alluded to in one instance where a Gaza resident proclaims they disagreed with the October 7th attack and that they have nothing to do with the terrorists the war is being waged against.
The thing that rises from film after film is the undying hope that remains in the face of complete devastation. According to displaced artist Ranin Al Zeriei, this optimism may stem from the fact that your horizon is filled with the endless sea in Gaza. From Ground Zero is a profound cinematic event, proving that movies can be made even on the edge of destruction.
"…proving that movies can be made even on the edge of destruction."
