Innocence (Guy Davidi, Israel, 2023, 100 min)

In 2013, Guy Davidi and Palestinian filmmaker Emad Burnat were nominated for an Academy Award for their documentary 5 Broken Cameras. It was the first time a Palestinian filmmaker had been nominated for an Oscar. The two directors also won the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival and an Emmy Award for the film.

Guy Davidi was born in Jaffa in 1978 and grew up in Holon and Kfar Saba.

His new film, Innocence, was produced by Danish producer Sigrid Dyekjær, who also produced The Cave, which the Film Society screened in 2020.

The film asks: When does one-sided propaganda become accepted as truth? And who pays the price?

Using Israel’s system of compulsory military service as its starting point, Guy Davidi examines the nationalist narratives that so often dominate the media and political discourse.

The result is a moving portrait of young people who die far too early, as well as a compelling analysis of the many faces that propaganda can take.

Military service in Israel is compulsory: men serve for three years, while women serve for just under two years. Everyone is expected to serve. For this reason, it is important not only that young people themselves accept the demanding training, but also that their families support it. Not everyone, however, agrees with this system.

Innocence is dedicated to the young people who, after exhausting physical and psychological training, did not make it home alive. The film traces the stories told through military recruitment advertisements and the nation-building heroic narratives shared around family dinner tables.

The well-known Danish film critic Per Juul Carlsen awarded the film five stars in Kristeligt Dagblad, writing that Innocence is an exceptionally powerful anti-war film— at the lowest sound level. It is precisely this restraint, he argues, that makes it so convincing.