An
army sweeps through the Old City of Jerusalem. Thousands of residents were
displaced even though their ancestors had lived in the Quarter for generations.
Places of worship were destroyed and graves were desecrated. The year is 1948.
The Army is the Jordanian Arab Legion and the neighborhood is the Old Jewish
Quarter. Perhaps you were expecting different players? Regardless, the
expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem certainly provides helpful context for
understanding the early history of the State of Israel. Fittingly, that is
where Erin Zimmerman starts her deeply insightful hybrid documentary, before
chronicling the David-and-Goliath-like Six-Day War in In Our Hands: The Battle for Jerusalem (trailer here), which screens
nationwide this Tuesday, via Fathom Events.
The
Six-Day War was orchestrated by Nasser to literally wipe Israel off the face of
the Earth. The tiny democracy was vastly outnumbered. Not only had the Egyptian
demagogue convinced a willing Iraq and a reluctant Jordan to combine forces, just
before the launch of hostilities, Israel would be abandoned by its greatest ally
at the time: France. Yet, the resulting war did not go exactly as planned.
Zimmerman
tells the story through the oral histories of the surviving veterans of the 55th
Reserve Paratroopers Brigade, while also using actors to dramatize the historic
events they participated in. The focal point of the film is Major Arik Achmon,
who served as the intelligence officer under the brigade’s legendary commander,
Mordechai “Motta” Gur. Achmon painstakingly planned a desperately dangerous
mission in the Sinai, but when the war dramatically turned in Israel’s favor,
he had to change gears at a moment’s notice and devise a strategy for taking
the Old City.
You
might think you were sufficiently familiar with the battles of the Six-Day War,
but Zimmerman and her interview subjects provide fascinating details and
absolutely riveting personal accounts. As Achmon and his comrades fully explain
the conditions and circumstances they were dealing with, the magnitude of their
victory seems genuinely miraculous.
Context
is indeed the key to In Our Hands.
Zimmerman and company really give viewers a full historical, social, and
psychological perspective on the War and the events leading up to and following
after it. Tiresome partisans will want to dismiss the film outright, because it
was produced by CBN films, but it is a really fine work of historical
documentary filmmaking. There is no religious proselytizing whatsoever. In
fact, the film takes pains to point out a great many secular Israeli soldiers
died alongside their religious Jewish counterparts, sacrificing their lives for
the dream of a free and secure democratic State of Israel.
Given
the nature of the re-enactment sequences, it is hard for the various cast-members
to stand out for their work playing historical figures. Still, it must be
readily admitted Sharon Friedman and Rami Baruch swagger quite effectively as
Gur and legendary Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. Historian and former Israeli
Ambassador to the U.S. Michael B. Oren also lends the film a real voice of authority
as one of the leading talking head experts.
