Holding Liat

I watched this film in Washington, DC, in June, and I am still thinking about it every single day.

I went to the screening with my 74-year-old parents and my 17-year-old son, and we all continue to speak on a first-name basis about the family in the film, which I find extraordinary, given the names are not ones we had ever heard before. It's a testament to how quickly and powerfully Holding Liat builds both intimacy and empathy.

I know my parents were nervous that the film would be one-sided, and my son, inundated by social media's take on current affairs, went in ready to be critical. But we all emerged deeply moved and with more questions than answers. This film is not about answers. It is about remembering that the heart of any story is really about the lives and experiences of the people living it. What do they think? What do they feel? What does that make us wonder?

Close camera angles that enable you to peer right into the eyes of the people at the center of the story as they share their ever-evolving thinking, their anguish, and their passion make it impossible to look away. I can still see the people I met through this film when I close my eyes. I can remember what it felt like to watch them weep, or rage, or hope. Because of this, it feels like their story is in some way part of my own now.

Holding Liat invites us to sit with complexity, to understand that we are constantly evolving in our thinking, that we are flawed and beautiful because of this, and that our ability to make the world a better place depends on our willingness to be present FOR that complexity. I wish everyone could see this film.

A provocative, beautiful film about one family's worst nightmare, and how members of the same family cope with tragedy in dramatically different ways. I learned so much from the film, namely about individual Israeli citizens' daily lives amidst the ongoing crisis-and the range of opinions about it. I was wary going into the film that the focus on one Israeli hostage's family's story would gloss over the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed since its filming. I was delighted to be wrong. I was impressed with the filmmakers' ability to tell this complex story from the perspective of an American-Israeli family, while also questioning the role of the Israeli government and "what is happening on the other side of the fence." This last line, and the film as a whole, will be with me for quite a while.

The first point I want to make: This is an excellent movie cinematographically. So often in documentaries, there is a great story to be told, and the story is so powerful, that people think it can survive so-so cinematic treatment. That is not the case here. The story is as powerful as any you've ever seen, but it is also great documentary-making by a talented crew.

Liat Atzili (full disclosure - long time friend) will retain your belief in humanity and our freedom to choose a sober, rational, humble and compassionate views of others, including our enemies. She is no starry-eyed hippie. She was thrown into the cruelest circumstances and faced reality with full awareness. But she kept seeing human potential and kept imagining how the world can be a better place.

The movie is multilayered. It tells the story of family love tested in the most dire situation, of the tension between a wide open ideological worldview and a laser focus on the individual and her needs, it's about animosity and humanity, about nationality (good and bad) and the universal, it tells the story about the worst and best hidden within each of us.

It does so through the most articulate, intelligent, warm-hearted and just loveable messengers.

You will cry at parts and jubilate at others, and will be enriched, and you can't ask for more from a great documentary.

This film is critical to the world in this moment. Eschewing the "easy" (and often divisive) paths to explain the most complicated questions in our world today, "Holding Liat" forces the audience to sit in the nuance, tensions, and multiple lenses to the conflict. It does not paint a picture of heroes and villains, but just the emotions -- notably love and compassion -- that power our lives.

I left wishing everyone commenting on the Middle East would watch this film instead of fanning unhelpful flames in places like social media. The family profiled has stayed with me for weeks since seeing the film. I am grateful for it.

These are such deeply challenging times and perhaps no other arena makes it so supremely difficult to be true to our ideals without shutting out others than relations between Israelis and Palestinians. The October 7th war has made it even harder. This film at first may seem pretty modest, following the lives of one family and not really touching on all the atrocities of the war - except for one very real trauma. However, this straightforward focus becomes a truly elegant and noble one. How hopeful it is to see people who are like us, not famous, not politicians, but GOOD people, doing the best they can to make their way through the fog and pain surrounding them to advocate for a different future, one that all people in Israel/Palestine can share. A must see!