Film Festival 09 - Rachel
Rachel
France/Belgium 2008, 100m
Director: Simone Bitton
Festivals: Berlin, Tribeca 2009
Simone Bitton's intelligent, layered film investigates the death of
American peace activist Rachel Corrie who died in the Gaza Strip in
2003 trying to stop army bulldozers from leveling a Palestinian
house. It may seem surprising that a Moroccan-born, Israeli
filmmaker would choose to put an American casualty at the centre of
a film about the Palestinian struggle. In fact the new generation
of globalised activists crossing the world to put themselves in
harm's way is very much her subject. In tracing Corrie's evolution
from Atlanta schoolgirl idealist to frontline activist, and
interviewing her surviving comrades in arms, Bitton delineates a
spiritual journey that many a loving middle class family - from
Georgia to Geraldine - has learned to regard with pride and
apprehension. While exhaustively cross-examining IDF officials and
the Palestinian families who knew Corrie, Bitton uncovers enough
evidence to rouse another wave of activists. Her film is a
clear-eyed elegy for a young woman who saw bad and wanted to do
good. - Bill Gosden
In English, Arabic and Hebrew, with English subtitles
