Page - 115 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

Gitai’s critical view of religion is socially based: the narratives on the “chosen people” and the “promised land” have less to do with faith and more to do with the transfer of historical trauma and a political agenda of territorial ex- pansion. The desire of a Palestinian boy to be a martyr is depicted more as a consequence of isolation, violence and poverty than as a matter of faith. Gitai questions identitarian struggles, religion and tribalism and the politics of exclu- sivity as a (contemporary) socially engaged “prophet”: social stratification is strongly connected with the hierarchical structures of oppression, and religious concepts are used for the justification of violence, both inside and outside spe- cific communities. Gitai’s voice speaks of social criticism that strives for a peace- ful resolution. His understanding of criticism connected with geographical and cinematic space stems from the notion of equality. West of the Jordan River shows that the end of space (as land shared among the people, Israelis and Pal- estinians) means the end of democracy in Israel. Gitai’s whole cinematic opus is wrought through with criticism developed around space and equality.24 Gitai re-examines authoritarianism, oppression, war and extremism only to finally re- ject them in the space that he inhabits – the cinematic space. Through this space Gitai creates and offers an alternative reality, a “citizenship to come”.25 In his 24 In his discussion of the creation of cinematic space in which criticism of socio-political practices emerg- es, Gitai notes the importance of a synagogue as a non-hierarchical structure. From this perspective Gitai further considers issues of oppression and second-class citizens and non-citizens. See Amos Gitai Interview, Personal Interview, 30.07.2018. 25 See Isin/Nielsen 2008, 23. Fig. 4: Hebron. Film still, West of the Jordan River (Amos Gitai, IL/FR 2017), 01:00:26. Constructing Space, Changing Reality of Israel through Film | 115www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1