Last night I had the pleasure and privilege of seeing an inspiring documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, thanks to my friend Adam. Budrus tells the story of a village in the West Bank that was in danger of losing 300 acres of land and 3,000 of the olive trees that are both crucial to the town's economy and representative of their history. In 2003, the Israeli government decided to build a separation barrier that went well past the Green Line, cutting through several Palestinian villages in order to insure the protection of the Israeli people. Budrus was one such village, whose residents successfully challenged the barrier destined to expropriate their land by using tactics not often associated with the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Their path of nonviolent resistance was aided by rival parties Fatah and Hamas, as well as the citizens and journalists from around the world who arrived in busloads to help. Footage of Palestinian villagers standing side by side with Israeli peace activists, facing down bulldozers and suffering at the hands of IDF soldiers, provides a poignant glance into a side of the story we rarely see. It is a hopeful one, a vision that speaks to the power of individuals coming together to fight for change in one of the most conflicted territories in the world.
Visit justvision.org, the filmmakers' non-profit organization, to learn more about what global audiences can do to help the nonviolent movement.
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