Ici Et Ailleurs (Here and Elsewhere)
Ici Et Ailleurs - Here And Elsewhere [1976]
Direction by Anne Marie Miéville, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Kean-Luc Godard
Language: French & Arabic
I'm not going to lie to you: this movie was difficult to watch at 10pm on a Friday night. It was intensely philosophical, and there were points were I was losing my train of thought. However, I will say this much: when I realized what this movie was really trying to say, I was very impressed. This documentary was actually a perfect complement to the book I have most recently read: Orientalism, a book about how Occidental, colonial views continue to distort how the Near East, or the Orient, is seen globally.
The first thing that was interesting about this movie was the parallelism: it documented the intertwined stories of a domesticated French family and a group of members from a Palestinian tribe fighting for independence. It was through this plot where this idea of 'Here and Elsewhere' came in: the movie's point, which I do understand and can see all around me, is that what 'here' is differs for everyone across the globe, and consequently so does 'elsewhere'. What this movie, with all of its intense philosophical themes, was trying to get at, in my opinion, was how we can understand conflict when it isn't happening where we are. The example the film gave was with film and photography: it is visual mediums which often are the most poignant ways of raising awareness of large conflicts. There was an overarching Palestinian thread in this movie, and so it was very interesting to link the power of photography to the work of journalists such as Motaz Aziza who are documenting the effects of the current war in the Gaza strip.
What this movie also touched on was the perils of capitalism. The movie made the case that in a capitalist society, where people are defined by numbers, many people are unable to see beyond their own worlds, struggling to survive in a wider, competitive society. I'm starting to see this all around me: I live in an era of Instagram activism, where people repost aesthetic looking posts of conflicts when they are trendy to talk about, but then swiftly forget once a few weeks past. I can see this capitalistic way of approaching conflict, where people prioritize their own needs over voicing the need for collective change, with was something that was very interesting to reflect on.
Thirdly, it was fascinating to see a new part of the Palestinian resistance movement. In modern movies that have been made about the state, they all feature main characters who protest against Israel in non or low violence ways. However, this movie showed a very different side to the conflict: it acknowledged that whilst the Palestinian want for some sort of uninterrupted sovereignty was valid and desired by the populace, that it was not always peaceful methods that have defined the conflict. There has been violence on both sides. Watching violence perpetrated by Palestinians was very interesting in informing how I see conflict in the region. (Also, just a side note, I am taking a strictly apolitical stance when commenting about this movie, as it does touch on themes which link to the current war between Israel and Gaza, which has been decisive as it has caused huge infrastructural damage and loss of life.)
Overall, a very interesting watch. Just watch this when you're alert: the amount of philosophy in this film will put you right to sleep if you're tired and don't understand what is being said. (My aunt and cousin both feel asleep when we watched this in the theatre together).
