This is an excellent drama. I'm still working on its meaning, but there are a few points worth clearing up, in the light of current reviews. The Palestinians are not censored by Israel, not in film, not in anything. The wall that divides the family was Israel's response to suicide bombings of the Jewish citizenry, not for any autocratic purposes. What's "appalling" is the continuing radical Muslim terrorism that requires Israel's aggressive vigilance. I still haven't a clear sense of why the father insists on living in the West Bank while his wife and family suffer in Israel proper, but the wife clearly makes it his choice, his responsibility. Perhaps the titular 200 Meters does not just represent the challenging distance by which the wall divides his family, but his own mental/psychologica;/political refusal to make the choice he needs to.for his family's sake. It's significant that the character who ultimately enables his passing the checkpoint is the Israeli woman, making a film in the Palestinians' cause, but falsely claiming to be German and to not understand Arabic or Hebrew. With similar even-handedness the director includes avaricious destructive Palestinian characters as well as the usual Israeli control. Finally, while Jordan generously sponsored the Palestinian film for an Oscar nomination it has for decades treated its own Palestinian refugees as unenfranchised third-class citizens. In this film and in general the political nuances must be respected.
Review of 200 Meters
