Tag Archives: palestinian

Freedom is a Big Word: After Guantanamo

Guantánamo Bay, and then what? After 13 years, a 38-year-old Palestinian named Muhammad is released from the notorious detention camp, where he was starved, tortured and humiliated. He gets the chance to start a new life in Uruguay, where he’ll get a home and welfare money. He has two years, then he’ll be on his own.

We follow Muhammad, a calm and very devout man, as he goes about his daily life, starting with his arrival in his new homeland and continuing until the end of the two years. He studies Spanish, learns to drive, prays, takes courses, calls his mother, and together with his Uruguayan wife looks for clothes for the baby they’re expecting. He’s resigned as he grapples with the local bureaucracy, but his eyes speak volumes.

At well-timed moments, we hear him talking in voice-over about his traumatic experiences in Guantánamo. Most of all, we see him looking for work, but who will take him on?

Freedom Is a Big Word shows how goodwill can descend into a sense of impotence in this confrontation with reality.

Jeremy Hardy Vs The Israeli Army

When comedian Jeremy Hardy is asked to visit Palestine and do his bit to solve the world’s longest running conflict, facing the world’s fourth biggest military power is not his idea of a holiday. On the other hand, neither is travelling to Florida to spend Easter with his in-laws. What he doesn’t know , as he arrives in Tel-Aviv a week later, is that he will become one of the most unlikely witnesses to a horrific yet seminal moment in the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Disastrously unprepared, Jeremy suddenly finds himself dodging bullets and running for cover as the realities of life under occupation begin to emerge, and it’s no laughing matter. As the danger mounts and the rubber bullets are exchanged for live ammunition, the courage and determination of those who risk everything to help the Palestinian people is tested, and for the first time, the terrifying life of a human shield is captured on film.

Jeremy Hardy Vs The Israeli Army is a quirky, moving story about the courage and resolve of those who pack their bags for Palestine to stand in the way of tanks and bring an end to the occupation.