Jawad Metni’s stirring documentary brings to light a critical, yet largely unknown, human rights catastrophe.
In 2006, one million cluster bomb munitions were dropped by the Israeli air force across the fields, houses, and orchards of South Lebanon. According to estimates, thirty-five percent of the small, toy-like yet lethal weapons have failed to detonate, precipitating a state-of-siege mentality for the inhabitants of this territory. Breaking news of death or mutilation by cluster bomb has become a frequent, grizzly spectacle in this land.
A year later, locally-recruited teams daily perform the most perilous work one can imagine: clearing the land of the deadly munitions. Metni interviews several people who have undertaken this terrifying task, and offers a picture of their complex motivations (money figures prominently for some, a sense of duty for others). Metni’s approach to this subject is admirably restrained yet fraught with undercurrents of emotion.
He allows the participants in the film to tell their stories and speak for themselves, and captures the controlled fear of the situation with graceful camerawork and lovely shots of the Lebanese countryside that underscore the tragedy of these events.
– George Kaltsounakis
