IDFA 2010 - George Sluizer wants to give Palestinians dignity with Homeland

After the opening film State of the stars was the second major premiere of a Dutch documentary at IDFA that of Homeland. By the way, the performance at the Tuschinski theatre was not just about the Palestinian cause, as it was, of course, also a celebration in honour of 78-year-old director George Sluizer (Trackless), perhaps our most internationally minded filmmaker. A few years ago, he narrowly survived an artery rupture, but he scrambled back on his feet and insisted on adding a fourth volume to his Palestinian trilogy made between 1974 and 1983 to complete it. Homeland was awarded best documentary at the Abu Dhabi festival last month.

At first, this heartfelt cry from Sluizer revolves mainly around the warm reunion with the still-living members of the two Palestinian families - refugees, fled to Beirut - from his earlier films. Through their story, we gain insight into the underlying Palestinian tragedy.

That approach is similar to Retel Helmrich's in State of the stars, but with this big difference that Sluizer has not made himself invisible. He himself, now a frail old man on crutches or in a wheelchair, is present in almost every scene. He meets old friends, makes awkward small talk with Israeli settlers and muses by old olive trees about the fact that in the grey past many Jews converted to Islam for tax reasons.

Sluizer also makes it immediately clear that anger at the injustice done to the Palestinians is his driving force. That clarity is to be applauded, but it does not take away from the fact that this highly personalised account is, for the most part, rather well behaved and predictable. It's also rather a lot of people Sluizer has to hug each time. Further forays into East Jerusalem and the West Bank contain little new for those who have followed the Palestinian issue a little. As harrowing as it is to watch an Israeli cement factory blow its toxic fumes over Palestinian territory, it ceases production as soon as the wind turns towards Israel.

While doing so, you get into Homeland incidentally, does provide a good summary of the conflict, which has been dragging on since 1948, especially from the (according to Sluizer) underexposed Palestinian perspective. He illustrates his pessimism about a happy ending with a series of often extremely cynical statements by Israeli government officials. To this, he himself adds a provocatively worded attack on ex-premier Sharon, who has been in a coma since 2006. But whether that was wise...