Entangled in Memory: Six Variations on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Entangled (2007), a film by Amir Har-Gil, documents the personal stories of six individuals whose lives are interwoven in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All six are moderate, ordinary people that are drawn into the conflict despite their peaceful attitudes. In contradiction to the film’s aim to document a specific moment, it became apparent that the personal stories are integrates also in the history of the conflict. Therefore, the stories appeared as a part of diachronic and synchronic occurrences. The chapter analyses the documentary through three theoretical perspectives: culture and memory, nationalism, and cinematic documentation. We argue that participants in the conflict, as liberal as they may be, are captured in negative stigmas which have been told to generations of local civilians. Hence, the common victim-oppressor interpretation is reinforced by a mental lock in an historic framework, which is perpetually reproduced. Moreover, the protagonists show higher affiliation with their nationality, rather than identification with the wish for peace. Consequently, we argue that the national collective memory role is more significant than the yearning for peace. Nevertheless, some of the participants in the film exposed high identification with the other party, be it the oppressor or the oppressed. In this sense, they revealed that a dialog of sorts exists even at times of political stand still.