Ripples Cross

Human rights activist Mark Turner is the director and star of this technically ragged but sporadically powerful documentary focusing on his experiences in the Palestinian territories as part of a group trying to record—and stand with the local population against—the repressive tactics of Israeli occupying forces. The strength of Ripples Cross is the success with which Turner and his associates, using a concealed video camera, are able to capture instances in which soldiers callously humiliate (and in some cases literally brutalize) unarmed people, destroy the homes of families with ties to suspected terrorists, and engage in routine harassment at the checkpoints that dot the countryside. Turner puts viewers in the middle of a firefight in a street after curfew has supposedly been lifted, showing us graphic footage of wounds that he and a fellow activist sustain, while also reporting on the Israeli army's invasion of the hospital in which they are treated. Although the overall effect is harrowing, making one feel the pain of the occupation in an immediate manner, what weakens the film's effectiveness, curiously, is Turner himself, who—although a passionate and committed person—can be off-putting with his self-righteous stridency. Nonetheless, Ripples Cross is an often powerful film that presents a perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rarely seen in America. DVD extras include an additional scene shot at an Israeli checkpoint. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)