POV: Tell us about This Way Up.
Georgi Lazarevski: It's a film about elderly patients in a nursing home who watch the construction of the wall just outside their home. The wall brings upheaval into their lives, as well as the lives of the staff at this nursing home, and it catapults the nursing home into an absurd, Kafkaesque situation on the border of Israel and Palestine.
POV: What led you to make this film? Why did you choose to focus on the nursing home?
Lazarevski: When construction of the wall began in 2004, it was a difficult time. When I discovered the home, it immediately triggered my desire to make a film, without discourse, about a simple reality in a specific place.
The area was declared a military zone, so the nursing home was thrown into a war zone. Each day, the elderly patients watched Palestinians climb over the remaining gaps in the wall to get to work, and sometimes the Palestinian workers were chased through the gardens of the nursing home by members of the military.
I think that the film primarily talks about confinement and the ways in which one can resist it. It shows people who resist confinement on a political level, and also resist confinement — as a result of old age and mortality — on a personal level. There's a cinematic parallel between the two kinds of confinement in the film, and both themes play a central role.
POV: Can you talk about the characters in the film?
Lazarevski: For me, the characters make the film. I became attached to the four characters. Each one resists a tragic situation in a unique way.
Jad is an exceptional character. He's mute, and I like that very much, because Israel/Palestine is a place of tremendous discourse and debate, which I wanted to avoid. Jad's muteness made him an ideal character. I wanted a silent character who would take the audience's hand the same way he guided me through the hospice to discover it through his eyes. He resists in his own way, because when he comes up against the wall, it's no problem; he doesn't fight it, he simply refuses to see it and finds another way to get to his favorite tree to pick fruit. He's a dreamer, and I personally relate to him the most of the people in the film. He finds a way to resist, to fight injustice in his own way, and in that resistance, there's enormous potential to change the world.
Thomas is the intellectual man in the wheelchair. In 1938 he worked for the British government as a translator and he had a very good job. When the British left, they offered him a job in Cyprus, but he decided to stay as a Palestinian and work toward building his country. Therefore, it is even more painful for him toward the end of his life to see that his country still doesn't exist and that there's profound injustice around him. The wall is a perfect illustration of that. What really moves me about Thomas is his combination of lucidity, clairvoyance and intelligence. Despite the deep suffering that he harbors, he maintains a positive outlook and resists with the means available to him: words. He blows up at the television when he sees politicians. He says, "But I have an answer for everything; they can ask me and I will answer them." He knows perfectly well that the political game has no legitimacy and fails to address a tangible reality.
Mary is handicapped and spends her days waiting for her son. She became paralyzed after receiving a poorly administered epidural when she was giving birth to her only son. It was very interesting to see this woman resist both a personal tragedy and a political tragedy. The wall prevents her from seeing her son. She is torn: She desires to see her son, but at the same time she's afraid, because each time he visits her he runs a tremendous risk of getting caught by Israeli soldiers when crossing the wall. She continues to resist, in her own way, always with a smile, with joy, with incredible strength. I think this outlook on life really moved me because I don't have that kind of energy.
In Marie — they call her Marie from Bethlehem, because she used to live in Bethlehem before moving into the hospice — I saw a huge potential for humor that enchanted me. She could care less about politics. What interests her is to continue going to the corner store to buy oranges. She was one of the few characters who had moved around a lot on both sides, and once the wall was built she was no longer able to. There's a moment in the film when Marie goes to the corner store that is located on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, which used to be a very busy road. Today, the wall intersects the road. The poor grocer, as Marie says, is "busy eating flies," waiting for a customer. And at one point Marie turns to me and says, "This stranger is here but he can't do anything. He's just here with his camera and he buys me chocolate." And it's true. It's a dramatic and realistic portrait of me. It also sheds light on my pain and my quest for understanding. It's a way to be honest with the viewer by leaving these moments in the film that reflect upon the documentarian's role.
POV: What is your approach to the Israeli-Palestinian situation as a documentarian?
Lazarevski: I address serious problems, often tragic and desperate, but I seek to approach them from a brighter, more hopeful angle. Humor offers a way to resist desperation and tragedy. The real Palestinian resistance happens on a daily level; it happens when people say, "We are not going anywhere. This is our home and we will continue to lead a normal life."
Talk About This
Got a question for Georgi Lazarevski? Post it below and he may answer it next week.You neglected to mention why the wall was necessary. No quotes of numbers of raids and casulties that made the erection of the wall necessary. No numbers after the wall went up either to show that it is relatively quieter for those who have to live behind the wall on the other side.
The confinement is two ways. What a shame that one has to erect barriers because no reasoning worked prior to it.
Not happy with your piece. For your information most of my working years (26!) were spent taking care of nursing home patients. The reaction of older people to any life event is not different from anyone else's. You are exploiting the sentiments of the uninformed public to feel sorry for both the residents of the mursing home and the "poor isolated Arabs" therefore as well.
by J. S. from Oceanside, NY
August 25, 2009, 10:49 PM
The wall is fine. Inside the Green Line.
by george from Los Angeles, Californiadrafts ofdr
August 25, 2009, 11:05 PM
Dear J.S.
You make several assumptions in your commentary that I must respond to.
First, I am the informed public and I want to watch documentaries like this. I am an American who has lived and worked in the West Bank and experienced the injustice of the Israeli military occupation and all the human rights abuses that every single Palestinian, young and old, of every social stratum, experiences on a daily basis.
Second, you completely ignore the fact of the violent Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people. I too would resist with every weapon available to me against a nation that steals my land, kills with impunity, imprisons my people and destroyed our homes. This is not complicated; it is simple cause and effect.
Thank you PBS for this incredibly beautiful, human and original portrayal of this conflict.
by adele from brooklyn, NY
August 25, 2009, 11:37 PM
Adele, thank you for your comment. Whenever any documentary that reflects Palestinian suffering is shown, the same cast of characters always seems to show up and attempts to engage in revisionism in an attempt to convince all that the side that actually wields the real power is in fact the consummate victim. Incredible apathy and a lack of introspection.
This comment has been edited by the moderator for content.
by Maggie from Brooklyn, NY
August 26, 2009, 12:26 AM
WOOT
I liked it, I hope that this particular director decided to continue works......in wars every is a victim...and perpetrators..we all loose a piece of humanity in wars....souls are stiffened and hearts hidden...but humor , laughter is the key, Let remind the world that we all laugh....
by MIkey from Chicago,
August 26, 2009, 9:01 PM
Dr.
This one-dimensional, painfully slow piece was limited to depiction of an especially decrepit segment of people beset by the ravages of age, mental slowness, chronic illness, and misinformation. The production was demeaning to all involved. It was a very poorly directed attempt at a documentary.
The apparent suggestion that the security wall in the Jerusalem area has a lot to do with the torpor of most of the selected cast was a big exaggeration. It seems to be a not-so-subtle form of political statement rather than a show of any understanding of the surrounding problems
By the way, the nursing staff appeared to genuinely care about the elderly residents.
The photography was great. But I am surprised that PBS elected to air a program of such poor quality.
by Robert J. Goldish Minnesota
August 26, 2009, 11:06 PM
Ms
Beautifully done. I first came to this area of Jerusalem more than 50 years ago, know it well. I was uncertain at first about the slow pace and limited scope, then realized the power of explaining the effect of "the wall" on a very small community. I came to respect the resilience of the people as they faced the end of life victims to such gratuitous cruelty---can "the wall" in any way add to te "security" or happiness of Israelis?
by Bernice Youtz from Tacoma, WA
August 27, 2009, 12:55 AM
A different way of depicting powerlessness
This film is so different from a standard documentary. It is much more of a cinematic essay. It allows the place to speak for itself, and for the viewer to absorb the atmosphere via the beautiful cinematography, which contrasts beauty with ugliness. It does not matter the rationale for erecting the wall. It is a fact that everyone is trapped, but the occupying power finds ways to get around. It also depicts the powerlessness of the infirm and their loved ones outside.
Someone wrote: "What a shame that one has to erect barriers because no reasoning worked prior to it." Faulty, because the Israeli gobbling up of territory, water resources and expulsions has continued unabated no matter what was being put out for public consumption. This conflict is about power and greed, not religion. The brave statesman Yitzhak Rabin was murdered because of this.
Someone also wrote "The apparent suggestion that the security wall in the Jerusalem area has a lot to do with the torpor of most of the selected cast was a big exaggeration." I never saw or felt that...perhaps you search for reasons to dismiss the disturbing reality as depicted? Sometimes by not using a hammer, as so many other documentaries do to try and 'explain a problem', the subtle humanistic way is more powerful and less easy to dismiss.
by RM, Virginia
August 27, 2009, 1:08 PM
i agree wholeheartedly with robert goldish of minnesota. it seemed like the folks were really playing to the camera & knew what would be best to say to us. to truly be looking at a problem you need to see & hear what the other viewpoints are. just what would you do mr. lazareski? like i said, it was painfully slow & the folks seemed phony. everyone, please say what your solutions are when you make the next "documentary".
by najodo from florence, kentucky
August 31, 2009, 1:09 PM
I saw the last part of this film by accident (home from work, exhausted and just flicking through channels) and was transfixed. The fact that you didn't add a lot of commentary made it all the more powerful, but, I'm afraid, less accessible to the average American who has no concept of the Palestinian plight.
Thank you for this film - you captured such an amazing perspective that I wish the entire Western World could experience for just a moment. I wish I could personally visit the characters in this story, but can only imagine how much more isolated they are by the advancement of the wall. Can you give us any update?
It makes me sad to read the comments of those who criticize your work. I know there were many Germans who used the same scare tactics to paint their victims as the aggressors in order to justify their views. It is so bizarre the way history repeats itself...
by Dianna from Seattle, WA
September 1, 2009, 2:14 PM