To shoot an elephant

Pablo Arce and Mohammad Rujailah's documentary takes us deep into the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their chronicle began on December 25, 2008 - just days after the six-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended. Arce and Rujailah were among a small group of foreigners in the Gaza Strip during this time, and their resulting footage represents some of the only moving images to capture the devastating impact the attacks had on the civilian population. Filmed with just a Handycam, "To Shoot an Elephant" focuses on the Palestinian civilians, hospital personnel and humanitarian workers who, under constant threat of possible injury or even death, must perform their daily tasks amidst the Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

In "To Shoot an Elephant" we see the results of war rather than the war itself, but images of the wounded and the dead are often more troubling than tanks or soldiers could ever be. The use of a Handycam to capture these images heightens our sense of presence and implicates us both as spectators and as humans.
ASHLEY SMITH

Producer: Alberto arce
Screenplay: alberto Arce/MIquel Marti
Cinematography: alberto arce
Subtitle: English