It’s important to clarify what kind of documentary No Other Land is. It follows the life of Basel Adra, a young Palestinian man living in Masafer Yatta, a collection of 20 small villages in the West Bank. Since childhood, Basel has filmed life in the village. As he’s grown up, he’s been predominantly recording the destruction of his home and those around it. Masafer Yatta is disputed land. Repeatedly, Israeli soldiers come to tear down the houses of Palestinians, stating that they’re illegally built on an Israeli military training ground. From 2019 to 2023, when the film ends, this cycle continues. Every time a home is rebuilt, it’s destroyed.
This is not an objective documentary. There’s no voice of the Israeli military or government position. The only Israeli voice in the film is that of Yuval Abraham, a journalist who says upfront that he believes the destruction of the houses is a crime. There is no attempt to view things from both positions. And that is entirely valid, because it’s not presenting itself as anything else. This is essentially a video diary compiled by Basel and Yusuf (they share director credit Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor – the full quartet are an equal split of Palestinian and Israeli) showing life through their eyes.
It’s a moving, challenging watch
It’s a moving, challenging watch. A girl stands crying as her home is ripped apart by a digger. A family makes a home in a cave, the only solid home available to them. Masked Israeli ‘settlers’ throw rocks at Adra and his family as soldiers watch. A man is shot by a soldier for trying to resist the theft of his electricity generator. There is occasional voiceover for context, but mostly these images are presented without editorialising. They tell their own story, one of endless persistence. Adra’s friends and family could move elsewhere and have an easier life, but this is where they call home and they won’t give it up.
Through this we watch Abraham’s growing friendship with Adra. Arguably, he’s not really a journalist by the end of the film. He begins merely observing events and asking questions, but he starts to talk of the village in more personal, political terms. In one conversation, Adra mildly rebukes him for ‘trying to fix all this in 10 weeks’ with his reporting. Eventually, he’s in the thick of the arguments with Israeli soldiers, being thrown to the ground along with everyone else. The film concludes on a stark note, with footage shot in October 2023, the month that Hamas attacked Israeli citizens and the siege on Gaza, which has killed an estimated 35,000 people, began. There is not an ending because there is not yet an end.
In UK and Ireland cinemas Fri Nov 8.