Behind Enemy Lines; Director: Dov Gil-Har; Israel, 20004, 64 min.; Color, English/Hebrew/Arabic with subtitles.  To be shown Feb. 13 at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival at 1 p.m. at the AMC Theatres in La Jolla, and at 4 p.m. at the Mann Theatres at Hazard Center.  (See Film Festival schedule)

Reviewed by Norman Greene

Some twenty years after having established a brief friendship at an experimental peace camp for young Israelis and young Palestinians during the hopeful season of the Oslo Accords, two adult men from both sides of the fence now attempt to explore the complexity of the Arab-Israeli conflict in Behind Enemy Lines. 

Don’t look for any resolution of this war in this film. However, you may find some insight into the Palestinian mind-set.

Director Dov Gil-Har’s hour-long, color film first establishes the youthful link between Israeli policeman Benny Hernes and Palestinian journalist Adnan Joulani before bring them into the modern day context of the Intifada. It is a rather unvarnished look at the realities of the terror, occupation, loss, pain and fundamentally differing perspectives.

There is something to be admired about each man, no matter how you feel about their arguments. Both are passionate in their beliefs. Remarkably, it is the Israeli (only speaking Hebrew) who comes off as being the more patient, polite and professional of the two. The English-speaking Arab journalist, it is clear, has personally suffered and is the more argumentative. Those who viewed the film with me thought he was the more forceful of the two men. In a sense, both men are portrayed playing against type. Some will find this disturbing.

Although they openly argue, it is clear that the two men like one another. And perhaps, that is the underlying message of the film. Injustices have been done on both sides. There is no black and white simple solution to two people occupying the same small stretch of land. But as the sun sets along a Tel Aviv beach, perhaps there is some, small hope for some future normalization of relations.

Unfortunately, the sound portion of the review tape given to me was less than adequate, allowing random dialogue to be lost throughout a movie which offers a slightly pro-Palestinian perspective