Censored Voices (2015) movie review

Jewish International Film Festival

Censored Voices takes on the difficult task of using audio recordings of interviews with Israeli soldiers-made just days after Israel's 1967 Six-Day War-as the foundation for a cinematic experience. Director/writer Mor Loushy does an amazing job, setting the often painfully raw recordings describing war crimes, cowardice, shock, fear and doubt over Israel's national direction, against visual backdrops.

The movie's core problem, and its ultimate failing, derives from the flawed nature of human perception: visuals tend to trump the aural. Sadly, in this case, it is the audio recordings-made by renowned Israeli writer Amos Oz with a small group of soldier-kibbutzniks over three weeks immediately after the war-that should have been centre stage.

Movie poster, Censored Voices

The visuals are largely scratchy B&W six-day war archival footage, coupled with tedious shots of a reel-to-reel tape recorder in action, and uncomfortable present-day close ups of the soldier-interviewees listening to their own words of decades past. Sadly, it is the nature of cinema and human sensory prioritisation that robs the all important '67 audio track of the spotlight it deserves.

The soldiers' raw and pained admission of war crimes, cruelty, doubt, frustration, fear and cowardice are truly powerful. The recordings were-as acknowledged in the movie's title-censored by the Israeli army for 50 years. One soldier invokes the word 'holocaust' in describing the massive refugee crisis the war triggered in the then new occupied territories of Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, West Bank and Gaza Strip. He bitterly speaks of Zionism as 'a tragedy', prophesising that Israel would be doomed to cycle through brief periods of peace, interspersed by long years of war.

The movie clearly posits that the Middle East, and the world, would most certainly have evolved in a very different manner had these recording been freely heard, discussed and debated over the past half century.

by Alan Alderson
Australian release 2015
For credits and official site details, see below
Search Festivale for more work by the film-makers below.
See also:

for movie, TV show, or person

Internet Movie Database.

Film commentary and upcoming movie release dates at reel-life.info

Just the facts:

Title: Censored Voices (Siach lochamim) (2015)
Written by: Mor Loushy, Daniel Sivan
Directed by: Mor Loushy
Running time: 84 mins
Rating:

The Players: Amos Oz

Official website: http://www.censoredvoices.com/
http://www.jiff.com.au/
IMDb entry

For session times of current films, use the cinema listings on the Movie links page. For scheduled release dates, see the coming attractions section.

For more information about this movie, check out the internet movie database.
For the latest additions to Festivale, check out the change history section.

For posts about Melbourne events, places, news, reviews, giveaways, see our Facebook Page:

Movie images, sounds, and video clips are solely owned by their respective companies.
No other uses are permitted without the prior written consent of owner.
Use of the material in violation of the foregoing may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.

disclaimer

Festivale Online Magazine
Celebrate everything!
www.festivale.info
ISSN 1328-8008
Published in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
disclaimers | contact the editor | Festivale revision history

Published in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia copyright © Festivale 2015-2016 All rights reserved
We also post news, reviews and trailers to our Facebook page.
Filed: 17-Oct-2015 Last updated: 17-Oct-2015 Last tested: Last compiled: 27-Dec-2015