The Hilltops

A more appropriate title for Igal Hecht's documentary might be The Squatters, since it tells the story of a group of Israelis who arrive in an area on the West Bank where they had no previous residency and begin to build unauthorized homes on property for which they have no legal claim. Led by 66-year-old Daniella Wise, these particular individuals assert that they are fulfilling the Zionist dream; however, the Israeli courts dispute their distinctive interpretation of Zionism. When Israeli soldiers are ordered to dismantle the illegal housing, the self-described “settlers” are not willing to be quietly evicted. Wise and her compatriots try to wage their own propaganda war to support their efforts, and one of the film's most astonishing sequences involves a fundraising presentation to German visitors in which an Israeli cites the Holocaust's impact on the Jewish people while insisting that the Palestinians can easily uproot themselves and go live somewhere else in the Islamic world. Along the way, Hecht intersperses several clips of President Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo, where he spoke sympathetically about the plight of the Palestinian people. Whether the filmmaker intended to frame Obama as being anti-Israeli is not clear, but what is obvious is the seemingly intractable nature of this enduring conflict over land and sovereignty. More current event than in-depth exploration, this is still a strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)