While a student at Yale, I took
Charlie Musser’s seminar on documentary films on a whim, after having taken two
courses oriented to film narrative (not screenwriting). Because my studies were
mainly in philosophy of religion, historical theology, and history at Yale, I
think neither Charlie nor I knew quite why I was taking his course. At the
time, I would not have thought that I would be writing on the genre thirty
years later. The film, NAZA
(2026), makes my earlier endeavor entirely worthwhile, and integrated into
my main academic areas of study and research, which include ethics and
political theory. The documentary “examines ‘the systems behind the mass
killing of Palestinian civilians’” in Gaza, and as of October, the theatrical
release was being extended due to so many sold-out showings.[1]
The Venice Film Festival awarded the film with the Special Jury Prize, and the
two filmmakers, Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham, “received a record-breaking
25-minute standing ovation at the festival.”[2]
The film can be interpreted as documenting the magnified harsh effects that unchecked
power over other people can have when those others are dehumanized. It is
interesting how close “NAZA” is to another word, NAZI.
The full essay is at "NAZA."