THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A land under siege for 33 days. A close look at the horrors of war and its impact on civilians, especially children.
Award-winning Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri’s 33 Days, depicting the indomitable human spirit amidst the horrors of war, was a thought-provoking choice for the International Day of the Refugee on Tuesday. It was screened on the closing day of Chalachitra Academy’s 10th International Documentary and Short Film festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) in the capital city.
On July 12, 2006, Israel launched a massive attack on its neighbour Lebanon after two Israeli soldiers were captured by Hezbollah resistance fighters demanding the release of Lebanese detainees from Israeli prisons. For the Lebanese, the ensuing conflict resulted in nearly 1,300 civilian deaths and the displacement of about a million people.
33 Days chronicles the efforts of theatre director Sharif Abdunnur, graphic designer Sharif Bibi and journalists Fadia Baszzi and Mariam Al-Bassam as they try to provide emergency aid, report current news of the conflict and help Lebanese children process the violence and destruction. Masri’s film is full of compassion and humanity even as it records the devastation of war.
Baszzi speaks about not only how people withstood the shell fire around them, but how the human spirit tries to smile in the face of life-threatening situations.
There was a human exodus of thousands, including children, who found themselves homeless and had to head to Beirut. They speak poignantly about deaths in their families and the crumbling of their homes as they put up resilience against the “mighty Israelis”. Yet, youth volunteer in refugee efforts.
People retreat to a theatre. Children are afraid of the war planes hovering above their heads and spitting fire. TV studios get destroyed, but they manage to telecast news from the rubble, informing people about the number of rockets fired and of bodies torn to pieces.
“They enter my house, bomb it and tell me I am the terrorist,” says one of the displaced women.
When the Hezbollah sink an Israeli ship, the refugees rejoice with fireworks. Even for the TV crew ‘it was like oxygen as it keeps them going’ when wading through the rubble of a city marked with smoke rising out of crumbled houses. After 33 days, the TV crew, functioning as a family - living, working and sleeping at their workplace - slowly start returning home.“They did not kill my childhood completely,” says Baszzi. “My nursery is still there.”
33 DAYS
The documentary chronicles the efforts of theatre director Sharif Abdunnur, graphic designer Sharif Bibi and journalists Fadia Baszzi and Mariam Al-Bassam as they try to provide emergency aid, report current news of the conflict and help Lebanese children process the violence and destruction during the Lebanese-Israeli war