Zero Degrees of Separation (2005)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Elle Flanders

Writer:

Elle Flanders (writer)

Genre:

Documentary

Awards:

1 win

Runtime:

Germany:85 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

Arabic | English | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Company:

Graphic Pictures Inc.

New Insights

Zero Degrees of Separation takes viewers into the most unique of circumstances through four individuals, all straddling an impossibly difficult cultural/political setting in which their relationships exist. The toll of occupation becomes vivid for those not familiar with the day to day life in this region. The film uses the relationships as a point of departure for insights into the country.

It has been remarked that the film is biased because it does not focus on bombings or the great ethnic diversity in Israel. Bombings are part of the climate in which the stories of these individuals take place. It is assumed one knows that. There are a multitude of references, direct or indirect to diversity. Ezra, the 50 year old plumber and partner of Selim, is mizarachim (Middle Eastern Jews, in his case originally from Iraq). Edit is originally from Argentina. And on it goes, as anyone who has been to Israel knows, it is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, a nation of of immigrants.

For me, the film also underscores the nature of activism in such a country. It seems second nature. Governments and leaders are more readily acknowledged as fallible and that action and change lies in the hands of the people.