Transforming amateur footage into a documentary film: 5 Broken Cameras

The 2011 Palestinian-Israeli documentary Five Broken Cameras contains amazingly powerful amateur footage shot over about a five-year span, roughly 2005-2010 by co-director Emad Burnat (and shaped into this documentary film by Burnat and Israeli direct Guy Davidi) - Burnat is a self-described peasant living in a small olive-growing village on the West Bank, father of four boys - around time of birth of his youngest he acquired a cheap videocamera to record his son's growth, as do millions of families around the world. But as his son was growing, so was a huge conflict, as a new settlement arises on the West Bank, encroaching on Burnat's village. So he began taking his camera to various meetings and demonstrations to record what was happening around him - without intending to, he was becoming a documentary journalist. Over the next five years, as the conflicts become more intense and violent, at varying intervals Burnat's camera gets destroyed by bullets, tear-gas canisters, etc. - so over the time of the film he acquires five cameras, each broken in combat so to speak. This film brings us inside the conflict like almost none other ever - we see the violence straight up and unedited, men shot, one even killed. It's obvious that the West Bank Palestinians are treated horribly and are being screwed by the Jewish settlements - though, granted, the film, like many (most?) documentaries is unabashedly polemical. Burnat and the men he photographs talk a lot about being involved in peaceful, nonviolent demonstrations, but it's not entirely clear that they weren't provocative and even violent as they approach Israeli troops. He's very romantic about the pleasant life in his little village, but an obvious subtext to Western viewers is that the women are totally subordinate and in the background, and that the children are subject to relentless indoctrination - all very discouraging - though it was good to see that the Palestinians won a judgment in an Israeli court (imagine that!) forcing the fence or wall to be moved farther away from their village. Still, the hideously ugly settlement continues to rise up, and it's sad and creepy to see the old Jewish guys moving in with the tefillin and mezuzahs. Pretty powerful film, one of the best transformations I've ever seen of amateur footage into a documentary work of art.