• Latest
  • Trending
No Other Land Review

No Other Land Review: Heartbreak and Hope From the West Bank

Boonie Bears Future Reborn Review

Boonie Bears: Future Reborn Review – Chinese Animation’s Promise and Limitations on Display

Louis Theroux The Settlers Review

Louis Theroux: The Settlers Review – When Neutrality Becomes Complicity

Brendan Fraser Rental Family

Disney Sets Brendan Fraser’s ‘Rental Family’ for Thanksgiving 2025, Books ‘Psycho Killer’ for Winter 2026

2 hours ago
Peter Jackson

Oscar-Winner Refuses to Fade, Invests $15 M in Moa Revival and Teases Film Return

2 hours ago
Bobby Berk

New Berk-Cena Series Lands at HGTV Amid Network’s Renovation Shake-Up

2 hours ago
Love Island USA Season 7 Review

Fan-Built Love Island Playlists Multiply Six-Thousand Percent on Spotify

2 hours ago
Tracy Ifeachor

Season 2 of The Pitt Proceeds Without Fan Favorite Tracy Ifeachor

3 hours ago
Splitgate 2 Review

Splitgate 2 Review: A Competent Evolution That Plays It Safe

Bidad Review

Bidad Review: An Anthem of Defiance from Tehran’s Streets

Back to the Frontier Review

Back to the Frontier Review: Three Families, Eight Weeks, Zero Wi-Fi

Too Much Review

Too Much Review: How Netflix’s Rom-Com Redefines Post-Millennial Romance

Dexter Resurrection Review

Dexter: Resurrection Review: The Devil Takes Manhattan

  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Gazettely Review Guidelines
Friday, July 11, 2025
GAZETTELY
  • Home
  • Movie and TV News
    Brendan Fraser Rental Family

    Disney Sets Brendan Fraser’s ‘Rental Family’ for Thanksgiving 2025, Books ‘Psycho Killer’ for Winter 2026

    Peter Jackson

    Oscar-Winner Refuses to Fade, Invests $15 M in Moa Revival and Teases Film Return

    Bobby Berk

    New Berk-Cena Series Lands at HGTV Amid Network’s Renovation Shake-Up

    Love Island USA Season 7 Review

    Fan-Built Love Island Playlists Multiply Six-Thousand Percent on Spotify

    Tracy Ifeachor

    Season 2 of The Pitt Proceeds Without Fan Favorite Tracy Ifeachor

    Jaume Collet Serra

    Netflix Seals Multi-Year Pact With Carry-On Director Jaume Collet-Serra

    Byeon Woo seok

    Netflix Greenlights Live-Action Solo Leveling With Byeon Woo-seok

    Joe Locke

    Joe Locke to Lead Samuel D. Hunter’s Clarkston in West End Debut

    Cierra Ortega

    Cierra Ortega Ousted From Love Island USA After Racist Posts Surface

  • Movie and TV Reviews
    Boonie Bears Future Reborn Review

    Boonie Bears: Future Reborn Review – Chinese Animation’s Promise and Limitations on Display

    Louis Theroux The Settlers Review

    Louis Theroux: The Settlers Review – When Neutrality Becomes Complicity

    Bidad Review

    Bidad Review: An Anthem of Defiance from Tehran’s Streets

    Back to the Frontier Review

    Back to the Frontier Review: Three Families, Eight Weeks, Zero Wi-Fi

    Too Much Review

    Too Much Review: How Netflix’s Rom-Com Redefines Post-Millennial Romance

    Dexter Resurrection Review

    Dexter: Resurrection Review: The Devil Takes Manhattan

    K-Pops! Review

    K-Pops! Review: Anderson .Paak’s Winning Performance

    Just Kids Review

    Just Kids Review: On the Fragility of Becoming

    Under a Dark Sun Review

    Under a Dark Sun Review: Come for the Mystery, Stay for Isabelle Adjani

  • Game Reviews
    Splitgate 2 Review

    Splitgate 2 Review: A Competent Evolution That Plays It Safe

    Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 Review

    Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 Review: Dropping In Again

    Best Served Cold Review

    Best Served Cold Review: A Bartender’s Guide to Murder and Mystery

    Broken Arrow Review

    Broken Arrow Review: A War on Two Fronts—Gameplay and Design

    Cast n Chill Review

    Cast n Chill Review: The Smartest Fishing Game You’ll Play

    Battle Train Review

    Battle Train Review: One Step Forward, Two Tracks Back

    Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game Review

    Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game Review – A Solo Dev’s Triumph

    GEX Trilogy Review

    GEX Trilogy Review: It’s Tail Time, One More Time

    Berserk or Die Review

    Berserk or Die Review: Controlled Chaos in a Pixelated Arena

  • The Bests
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Movie and TV News
    Brendan Fraser Rental Family

    Disney Sets Brendan Fraser’s ‘Rental Family’ for Thanksgiving 2025, Books ‘Psycho Killer’ for Winter 2026

    Peter Jackson

    Oscar-Winner Refuses to Fade, Invests $15 M in Moa Revival and Teases Film Return

    Bobby Berk

    New Berk-Cena Series Lands at HGTV Amid Network’s Renovation Shake-Up

    Love Island USA Season 7 Review

    Fan-Built Love Island Playlists Multiply Six-Thousand Percent on Spotify

    Tracy Ifeachor

    Season 2 of The Pitt Proceeds Without Fan Favorite Tracy Ifeachor

    Jaume Collet Serra

    Netflix Seals Multi-Year Pact With Carry-On Director Jaume Collet-Serra

    Byeon Woo seok

    Netflix Greenlights Live-Action Solo Leveling With Byeon Woo-seok

    Joe Locke

    Joe Locke to Lead Samuel D. Hunter’s Clarkston in West End Debut

    Cierra Ortega

    Cierra Ortega Ousted From Love Island USA After Racist Posts Surface

  • Movie and TV Reviews
    Boonie Bears Future Reborn Review

    Boonie Bears: Future Reborn Review – Chinese Animation’s Promise and Limitations on Display

    Louis Theroux The Settlers Review

    Louis Theroux: The Settlers Review – When Neutrality Becomes Complicity

    Bidad Review

    Bidad Review: An Anthem of Defiance from Tehran’s Streets

    Back to the Frontier Review

    Back to the Frontier Review: Three Families, Eight Weeks, Zero Wi-Fi

    Too Much Review

    Too Much Review: How Netflix’s Rom-Com Redefines Post-Millennial Romance

    Dexter Resurrection Review

    Dexter: Resurrection Review: The Devil Takes Manhattan

    K-Pops! Review

    K-Pops! Review: Anderson .Paak’s Winning Performance

    Just Kids Review

    Just Kids Review: On the Fragility of Becoming

    Under a Dark Sun Review

    Under a Dark Sun Review: Come for the Mystery, Stay for Isabelle Adjani

  • Game Reviews
    Splitgate 2 Review

    Splitgate 2 Review: A Competent Evolution That Plays It Safe

    Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 Review

    Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 Review: Dropping In Again

    Best Served Cold Review

    Best Served Cold Review: A Bartender’s Guide to Murder and Mystery

    Broken Arrow Review

    Broken Arrow Review: A War on Two Fronts—Gameplay and Design

    Cast n Chill Review

    Cast n Chill Review: The Smartest Fishing Game You’ll Play

    Battle Train Review

    Battle Train Review: One Step Forward, Two Tracks Back

    Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game Review

    Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game Review – A Solo Dev’s Triumph

    GEX Trilogy Review

    GEX Trilogy Review: It’s Tail Time, One More Time

    Berserk or Die Review

    Berserk or Die Review: Controlled Chaos in a Pixelated Arena

  • The Bests
No Result
View All Result
GAZETTELY
No Result
View All Result
No Other Land Review

Another End Review: A Somber Rumination Stifled By Its Own Ambition

Slave Zero X Review: A Bloody Good Time!

Home Entertainment Movies

No Other Land Review: Heartbreak and Hope From the West Bank

"We Have to Raise Our Voices": Grassroots Activists Risking for Justice

Arash Nahandian by Arash Nahandian
1 year ago
in Entertainment, Movies, Reviews
Reading Time: 6 mins read
A A
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on PinterestShare on WhatsAppShare on Telegram

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged for decades, but the new documentary film “No Other Land” captures a powerful glimpse into one aspect of this complex dispute. The film follows the residents of Masafer Yatta, a grouping of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank that have endured threats of home demolition and displacement at the hands of the Israeli government.

We witness the villages’ decades-long legal fight and their attempts to rebuild razed homes under the cover of night. At the heart of this struggle lies Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist and journalist who teams up with Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham. Together with two other directors, this Palestinian-Israeli creative collective set out to document the injustices faced by the people of Masafer Yatta.

Armed with their cameras, they set to capture this brink-of-destruction community’s remarkable resilience. But will their filmmaking efforts bear fruit or will the villagers be expelled from their ancestral land? Through raw, frontline footage, “No Other Land” promises to shine new light on the bitter realities of life under occupation.

A Rural Community Under Siege

Masafer Yatta is a collection of small Palestinian villages in the hills south of Hebron. This rural, cave-dotted landscape is home to Bedouin communities and peasant farmers tending olive groves and flocks of sheep. The people of Masafer Yatta feel deeply connected to their ancestral lands. But for over 20 years, Israel has sought to expel them, claiming the area is needed for military training.

It’s been a long, painful legal fight. Back in the early 1980s, the Israeli Defense Forces declared 30,000 dunams in Masafer Yatta a restricted “Firing Zone.” Palestinian residents like the Adra family fought this in court for decades. Despite an Israeli High Court temporarily halting demolitions in the late 1990s, the villages today face an increasingly dire situation. In 2022, the court dismissed the Palestinian appeals. Bulldozers soon rolled in.

“No Other Land” takes us directly into the path of destruction. We witness the ruthless demolition of homes, roads, and structures like the sole village schoolhouse. “The people built this together despite multiple attempts to stop them,” narrates Basel Adra over footage of the IDF chasing terrified schoolchildren from the building. Soldiers then raze the modest little school to the rubble. That’s the occupation authorities’ answer to any show of Palestinian pride or unity.

The villagers rebuild out of necessity, often under cover of darkness. But the next day or week, Israeli forces return to flatten the site again. It’s a cruel cycle of disruption designed to squeeze the Palestinians out. By depicting these scenes of systematic erasure, “No Other Land” lays bare the grinding pressures of occupation. Yet we also see the community spirit and grit which compels the people of Masafer Yatta to reconstruct their homes and their lives over and over. As one villager states with righteous conviction: “We have no other land.”

Raw Footage, Raw Injustice

“No Other Land” pulls no punches in revealing the heavy-handed tactics used to drive Palestinians from their homes in Masafer Yatta. The film collective captures military raids in visceral, chaotic scenes. Tanks rumble through while soldiers barge into houses, terrorizing families. They even violently chase away Adra and others trying to document the cruelty. It’s shocking footage no major network would air.

No Other Land Review

Checkpoints, permits, bans on construction effectively turn the occupied into prisoners. The film profiles how occupation strangles daily life itself. We see barriers even to accessing water, like when Israeli authorities cement over a village well. “They are trying to starve us,” explains one Masafer Yatta resident. Through it all, the Palestinians endure harassment and violence, often at the hands of extremist settlers. Yet Palestinian complaints fall on deaf ears. Accountability remains elusive.

At the heart of this struggle lies Basel Adra. A descendant of activists, Adra witnesses his father arrested as a boy simply for being Palestinian. Now a lawyer and journalist, he vows to carry on his family’s fight using the law and lens as his weapons. Adra helps organize protests and disseminate images to make the world care about Masafer Yatta’s slow demise. He teams up with Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham who joins Adra in acting as guardian witnesses.

Together with their Palestinian-Israeli collective, Abraham and Adra capture footage and push to get Masafer Yatta’s story told. It’s dangerous work. At one point, a soldier threatens Adra: “Who do you think you’re filming?” But Abraham’s privilege as an Israeli helps grant the team access. “You want to end the occupation in ten days?” Adra chides during a weary moment. Still, the joint effort leads to some media coverage. And the documentary itself will now relay these injustices worldwide. Yet with demolitions ongoing, the impact remains uncertain.

Through it all, the residents of Masafer Yatta model incredible dignity and resilience. Facing such oppression, they somehow find the will to dance their traditional debke even amidst the rubble. As Adra declares, “We have to raise our voices, not be silent as if no human beings live here.” This film gives power and visibility to those voices.

“Dive into the mysterious and darkly humorous world of ‘Diarra from Detroit’ with our Diarra from Detroit review. Follow Diarra as she navigates through a tumultuous divorce and a puzzling disappearance, uncovering more than she bargained for in this thrilling urban adventure.”

Bearing Witness: Raw and Unfiltered

“No Other Land” utilizes a cinema vérité approach to bare troubling truths. Instead of slick packaging, the film opts for raw, intimate glimpses into the realities for those living the oppression day-to-day. Handheld camerawork conjures an on-the-ground feel as we trail the villagers confronting demolition crews. And the directors challenge authorities right back, refusing to stop filming even when chased or assaulted.

No Other Land Review

The collective incorporates personal and archival footage to flesh out context. Home videos show a young Basel Adra happily celebrating Eid. Public news clips then expose the sharp contrast between the freedoms of Israeli children versus Palestinians his same age. Such montages elucidate how injustice was woven into the fabric of Adra’s life from the start.

Yet the documentary finds its most piercing power in scenes filmed as they happen. We witness Palestinian crowds chanting defiantly in the face of armed forces aiming to quash their spirits along with their homes. Few fictional movies capture the pathos of these images. While no violence is gratuitously depicted, the documentary refuses to censor ugly realities. There will be no looking away.

So when a Palestinian named Harun is shot and paralyzed for minor resistance, the collective records his grieving mother close-up, dignified in her pain. In the hands of propagandists, such footage might be manipulated to dehumanize. Instead, the filmmakers present these subjects as fully realized people owed basic human rights and compassion. What the Israeli authorities want hidden from sight, this courageous documentary collective brings into the spotlight. No Other Land opts for truth told tenderly over any agenda beyond the ethical: freedom, justice and the preservation of life over land.

No Justice, No Peace

As “No Other Land” draws to a close, the fate of Masafer Yatta still hangs in the balance. Demolitions continue even as some villagers flee, while many remain, steadfastly proclaiming “we have no other land.” In the film’s last moments, the narration informs us that a year has passed since filming wrapped. Israel has now begun its brutal bombardment of Gaza.

No Other Land Review

This final coda underscores the wider injustices occurring alongside Masafer Yatta’s struggles. Home demolitions and forced evictions of Palestinians have surged nationally in recent times. Similarly, the military occupation ongoing in the West Bank for over 50 years continues squeezing communities like this one out of existence. But as awareness grows of these human rights violations thanks to films like this, so too does global solidarity and pressure on Israel from allies like the United States.

At its core, “No Other Land” tells a story of the raw imbalance of power between occupier and occupied. Armed Israeli soldiers can chase away and detain Palestinian civilians like Basel Adra simply for documenting realities. Meanwhile, Israeli settler extremists perpetrate violence against Palestinians with seeming impunity. This harsh discrepancy lies starkly exposed when a Palestinian standing up to harassment, like young Harun Abu Aram, can be gunned down and paralyzed without accountability. Where is justice under such oppression?

Yet as Adra declares, “we have to raise our voices, not be silent.” Films like “No Other Land” ensure the resilient voices of the Palestinians ring out loudly across the information battleground. This documentary will undoubtedly impact global discourse by putting names and faces onto the statistics of human suffering. Whether world leaders can translate any sympathy it elicits into actual policy changes remains uncertain. But by courageously bearing witness, Adra, Abraham and their crew have lit a bold torch against the darkness of injustice. May it catch fire in consciences worldwide.

The Review

No Other Land

9 Score

No Other Land is a raw, unflinching look at the human impacts of occupation. Through firsthand footage and eyewitness accounts, this documentary collective exposes the oppressive effort to erase Palestinian villages while highlighting incredible resilience. Both urgent protest and loving portrait, the film builds sympathy even in moments of confrontation. Awareness starts paths to change. No Other Land thus deserves praise for bravely bearing witness with integrity more than any flashy style.

PROS

  • Raw, emotional footage brings the struggle to life
  • Insider view lends authenticity
  • Highlights an underreported issue in the conflict
  • Builds empathy for the Palestinian experience
  • Techniques like vérité increase impact
  • Collaborative filmmaker collective bridges divides

CONS

  • Story scope limited to one region
  • Some dialogue scenes seem forced/staged
  • Unclear if activism efforts are truly impactful
  • Outcomes still pending for villagers

Review Breakdown

  • Overall 0
Tags: DocumentaryFeaturedHamdan BallalNo Other LandRachel Szor
Previous Post

Another End Review: A Somber Rumination Stifled By Its Own Ambition

Next Post

Slave Zero X Review: A Bloody Good Time!

Try AI Movie Recommender

Gazettely AI Movie Recommender

This Week's Top Reads

  • Man Finds Tape Review

    Man Finds Tape Review: The Smartest Horror Film of the Year

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Brick Review: When the Walls Are Within

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires Review – Disney’s Cross-Cultural Evolution in Teen Entertainment

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Sandman Season 2 Review: Portrait of a Ponderous God

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Mix Tape Review: A Story Told on Two Sides of a Cassette

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 25 Biggest Celebrity Scandals of the 2010s

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Back to the Frontier Review: Three Families, Eight Weeks, Zero Wi-Fi

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Must Read Articles

Too Much Review
Entertainment

Too Much Review: How Netflix’s Rom-Com Redefines Post-Millennial Romance

13 hours ago
Dexter Resurrection Review
Entertainment

Dexter: Resurrection Review: The Devil Takes Manhattan

14 hours ago
Unwrapping Christmas: Tina's Miracle Review
Movies

Unwrapping Christmas: Tina’s Miracle Review: A Study in Fortunate Errors

17 hours ago
Broken Arrow Review
Reviews Games

Broken Arrow Review: A War on Two Fronts—Gameplay and Design

1 day ago
Gachiakuta Review
TV Shows

Gachiakuta Review: Forged in Refuse, Rushed to the Screen

1 day ago
Loading poll ...
Coming Soon
Who is the best director in the horror thriller genre?

Gazettely is your go-to destination for all things gaming, movies, and TV. With fresh reviews, trending articles, and editor picks, we help you stay informed and entertained.

© 2021-2024 All Rights Reserved for Gazettely

What’s Inside

  • Movie & TV Reviews
  • Game Reviews
  • Featured Articles
  • Latest News
  • Editorial Picks

Quick Links

  • Home
  • About US
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Review Guidelines

Follow Us

Facebook X-twitter Youtube Instagram
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Movies
  • Entertainment News
  • Movie and TV Reviews
  • TV Shows
  • Game News
  • Game Reviews
  • Contact Us

© 2024 All Rights Reserved for Gazettely