The Israeli documentary film "Get the Land Back" by directors Irmy Shik Blum and Elad Orenstein, which first aired on Wednesday, is an exceptional film. There was a time when a new documentary about the events in the West Bank would be released every two weeks or so. Some of these films were important and impactful, but many of them looked and sounded the same, as they were aimed at the soft spot of the international festival and awards industry.
Then, cinematic interest in the West Bank was gone. It wasn't just the filmmakers who wanted to work and funds that didn't want political issues connected to them: even the target audience moved on to talk about other topics.
The story of the new documentary begins with the modern Israeli dream: to buy an apartment. But Irmy Shik Blum is only a talented comedian, so this dream is naturally unrealistic. Then the first plot twist arrives: It turns out Blum's grandmother left a plot of land in the West Bank to his father in her will. It’s not Tel Aviv, but still a much better starting point.
But then Blum and his father are exposed to the secrets of the Israeli control in the Palestinian territories: a collection of orders, regulations, rulings and establishing facts on the ground that point to one bottom line – his ownership of the land is amorphous at best. Conversations with experts reveal the only way to get what is rightfully-but-not-rightfully his is to become a settler.
From here, Get the Land Back’s truly spectacular part begins: to make his initial move onto the land, Blum and his father invent a fictional feature film that recreates the purchase of the land by his grandmother.
They sell the idea to whoever needs to hear it as a Zionist project that will tell the world about the rights of the Israeli people to their land, with the ultimate goal being to set up a permanent film set in the area and build a cozy villa.
What’s equally amazing is that the plan works rather well: the permits come through, and then-Communications Minister, Yoaz Hendel, even comes to visit, probably without realizing he was starring in a real movie about a film that doesn't exist.
Without revealing the documentary’s unsurprising yet effective ending, "Get the Land Back" not only breathes new life into an issue that once tore the country apart, but also does so in an original, bold, funny, very undidactic, and certainly kind manner.