5 Broken Cameras
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Metascore
78 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: An extraordinary work of both cinematic and political activism, 5 Broken Cameras is a deeply personal, first-hand account of non-violent resistance in Bil'in, a West Bank village threatened by encroaching Israeli settlements. Shot almost entirely by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son, the footage was later given to Israeli co-director Guy Davidi to edit. Structured around the violent destruction of each one of Burnat's cameras, the filmmakers' collaboration follows one family's evolution over five years of village turmoil. Burnat watches from behind the lens as olive trees are bulldozed, protests intensify, and lives are lost. "I feel like the camera protects me," he says, "but it's an illusion." (Kino Lorber)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Total Film
    Reviewed by: Philip Kemp
    Oct 1, 2012
    100
    A hugely powerful, moving study of a small village's stand against overwhelming state power. Despite all the suffering and injustice, the final message is one of optimism that feels neither facile nor tacked-on.
  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: David Parkinson
    Oct 15, 2012
    80
    A touching and revelatory piece of film-making about the plights of real people living in an uncertain world.
  3. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    Feb 21, 2013
    80
    5 Broken Cameras is short on facts and, like the demonstrations themselves, provocative by nature. Still, it casts a baleful light on anguishing, seemingly incessant scenes of tear gas hurled, bullets fired, villagers fleeing for their lives and, on one shocking occasion, a life lost as the camera rolls. This is how the conflict looks from the other side of the barrier.
  4. Variety
    Reviewed by: Leslie Felperin
    May 29, 2012
    50
    An undeniably powerful record of the Palestinian village of Bil'in's course of civil disobedience from 2005 to the present...the pic is also shamelessly sentimental and manipulative in its construction.

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  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
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  1. ChuckFarley
    10
    if your knowledge of the palestinian conflict is derived solely from mainstream tv or vacuous entertainment columnists then you should watch this film.… Expand

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