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In my opinion, a good documentary - especially one dealing with controversial political issues - should be informative and as unbiased as possible. The point should be revealing the truth. This means, in particular, having among the interviewees experts on the subject and representatives of all sides. This film is a failure in this regard. Most of the interviews included in this film consist of "men off the street" expounding on the question of peace in the Holy Land. The wall itself, the supposed subject of the film, is given no serious treatment at all. For most of the interviews, the interviewer simply waits to be approached and asks general questions such as "what do you think of the wall?" - she does not approach random people near the wall and ask them how they have been directly affected by it. Outside of one interviewee, the Israeli general in charge of the wall's construction, we have no "experts" on the subject to provide us with the wall's context (e.g. how and when the project began, whether it has been successful, which groups are for and which against the project, etc.)

Outside of the interviews, a very large portion of the film consists of extended shots of uneventful scenes, such as head-on shots of the wall, construction of the wall, and people getting off a bus. These shots take up far too much time, in my opinion. It's nice to see what the wall looks like, but the 20-30 minutes of head-on filming of the wall (and only the wall) are excessive. Clearly, these shots (accompanied by Arabic music that conveys a sense of mourning) are included for the sole purpose of arousing in viewers feelings of loathing for the wall.

The Wall was a decent film for its kind, but was definitely biased against the wall itself and the Israeli government that's erecting it. It appears as though the film went out of its way to find both Jews and Arabs that would go on film saying the wall was pointless, while portraying the Israeli government as being paranoid and unconcerned with the negative effect the wall will have on the population. They did not show average people who support the wall, nor did they show the attacks that justify having the wall.

Basically, though there are two sides to every story, this film only shows one.

I was shocked to learn that the Israeli-built "Wall" entirely encircles one small Palestinian town, whose name I cannot remember now, and also completely encircles the city of Gaza. The question leaps to mind: what's the difference between this encirclement of a Palestinian town and the large city of Gaza and the creation of the Warsaw Ghetto or the pogroms instituted by Hitler. This encirclement is just the beginning; worse will likely follow in the name of "security". Interviewee after interviewee on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian alike, say it's a waste of money. Scene after scene of residents scaling the wall to get to jobs on the other side were eloquent testimony to its ineffectiveness. The comment by the Israeli military chief overseeing construction of the wall, "Both sides of the wall are ours. We're the rulers." says it all.

I viewed this documentary as part of a community program designed to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in Columbia, Missouri. Simone Bitton the director flew in from Paris especially for this event. I would highly recommend this film for someone who already knows quite a bit about the conflict between the two peoples, but not if you intend on going to actually learn more about the tension as I had intended. The film only focuses on the sentiments of the people regarding the construction of the barrier which allows the viewer to relate more without the influence of politics. Some of the construction scenes drag on leaving some viewers bored but there are also unexpected moments of humor. If one can sit through the whole thing and keep up with the subtitles there is a lot to gather and understand from the documentary as a whole.

Simone Bitton etches a haunting portrait of one of the most profound geographical markers of our time: the wall of separation constructed by Israel that shields it from adjacent, conflicted Palestinian territories. With masterful restraint, Bitton both abstracts her subject and extracts its key contradiction as a strangulating protector of life.

Traversing various regions, Bitton interviews Palestinian and Jewish subjects (many off camera) regarding the wall's significance. These, along with an Israeli Defense official interviewed in his office, alternately decry Palestinian terrorism and alleged crimes, or term the construction of the wall a disguised Israeli landgrab. Many question the wall's efficacy and its long-range benefits, bemoaning their separation from neighbors and friends.

Bitton, herself an Arab and a Jew, presents the barrier in stark visual schemes that emphasize its stultifying surface and scarring of idyllic landscapes where, previously, "sides" might not have been so distinct. This exquisite visual aridity, an austere editorial pace, and magnificently layered ambient sound create an atmosphere of stagnation and futile clamor, fairly compelling the wall to speak its own irony. It is through such sparing means that Bitton most strikingly confronts her implacable subject, its dialogue of silence implicitly debating all the things that silence signifies and conceals.— Shannon Kelley