Death in Gaza

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Death In Gaza

Death In Gaza DVD cover
Directed by James Miller
Produced by Nancy Abraham
James Miller
Saira Shah
Written by Saira Shah
Starring James Miller
Saira Shah
Music by Nick Powell
Cinematography James Miller
Editing by Misha Manson-Smith
Distributed by Channel Four Television Corporation
Release date(s) February 2004 Berlin International Film Festival
Running time 80 min
Language Arabic / English / Hebrew
IMDb profile

Death In Gaza is an Emmy-award winning 2004 documentary film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, opening in the West Bank but then moving to Gaza and eventually settling in Rafah where the film spends most of its time. It concentrates on 3 children, Ahmed (age 12), Mohammed (age 12) and Najla (age 16).

Contents

[edit] Topics

[edit] Children

The film tells the story of the lives of the people who live with such a conflict everyday, and how it affects their lives. Mainly, the film focuses on seven children of the conflict and their families. After a graphic and intense scene in which an Israeli sponsored car-bombing of a suspected conspiring Palestinian suicide bomber, a witness comments that it is the next generation of the people in that area that will determine whether there is peace or war.

The film follows children in different aspects of their lives: following them to school, what they learn in school, time spent with family; following them playing with and helping militant resistance fighters, making and using homemade explosives against Israeli soldiers and civilians, and the public and personal mournings of the death of friends and family members.

[edit] Martyrdom

For a short while the film concentrates on martyrdom and the opinions of the people there about dying for Palestine and Islam. It briefly tells the story of a young boy who was shot while attacking Israeli forces much like the main boys Ahmed and Mohammed, as well as numerous other unnamed boys. The film follows the boy from being brought into the medical center and the initial treatment, to his death and public reaction, to the parade and his burial, and celebration at his success in becoming a martyr.

[edit] James Miller's Death

While filming this movie, Producer / Director James Miller was killed as a result of gunfire from an Israeli army soldier. Miller's death came about after he and fellow crew members were attempting to approach an Israeli APC at night time, audibly and visibly suggesting their neutrality as journalists by wearing helmets and flak vests marked "TV", waving a white flag and walking slowly in the open. A first warning shot was fired by Israeli soldiers, and a crew member reaffirmed their neutrality by yelling "We are British journalists". Seconds later, another shot was fired and hit Miller in the neck, killing him instantly. This occurred while the crew was filming military activity from one of the children's homes in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

[edit] Documentary Completion

James Miller and crew had intended on illustrating this struggle from the Israeli children's point of view also, but James was killed before even the completion of the Palestinian segment of this film. His death was incorporated as a major part of the film, with an explanation by the narrator, Saira Shah, at the beginning of the film, and the full story and reactions at the end. It is mentioned that Palestinian militants made posters declaring that Miller was a martyr against the film crew's wishes.

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[edit] External links