To See If I'm Smiling

Israel is the only country in which women are required to perform compulsory military service. Tamar Yarom's unsettling documentary To See If I'm Smiling, which won honors at Hot Docs and at the Amsterdam-based International Documentary Film Festival, focuses on six young female soldiers who were stationed in the West Bank and Gaza. Not surprisingly, the women experienced significant changes in both their personalities and outlooks—and not always for the better. One former soldier developed an alcohol addiction as a result of her stressful military service, while another remains haunted by a flippant photograph she had taken of herself alongside a Palestinian corpse (the title of the film refers to her unhappiness over her expression while the picture was taken). The women here make no pretense of heroism: a paramedic acknowledges scrubbing bodies of dead Palestinians to cover up evidence of abuse by Israeli soldiers, while another openly admits to dishing out revenge on Palestinians through physical humiliation at checkpoint crossings and during arrests. A frank and haunting look at the dark side of the lives of female soldiers in the Israel Defense Force, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)