With the short documentary ‘A State of Rage’ (2024), Academy-nominated German director Marcel Mettelsiefen skilfully presents how wars scar and shape the personality of children as he focuses his lenses on the West Bank conflict between Palestine refugees and Jewish settlers.
The movie’s main focus is the children living within the conflict; the documentary also presents their relatives, friends, and neighbourhoods, showcasing how deeply living in a state of war can affect how people interpret their surroundings and the world. Not forgetting its crippling effects on mental health and the creation of generational trauma.
Ten-year-old Jana resides in the Jenin Refugee Camp with other Palestinians who had to leave their area when the state of Israel was created. The documentary opens with Jana being questioned about the meaning of peace alongside her best friend, Heba, a girl of the same age. Their looks alternate between playful and sombre as they present their perceptions.
Later, the other key participants are shown, 16-year-old Renana, a resident of the Havat Gilad religious outpost founded by Jewish settlers. The teenager muses about the bucolic scene where she leaves and starts narrating what is supposed to be a calm life but with the looming sense of incoming conflict. Renana’s father was killed in a drive-by shooting, and she is supported by her sister Naomi, 14, who shares her views on life in the West Bank and their Arab neighbours.
Jana lives in an area where members of the Palestine Armed Resistance can be seen during broad daylight, including when there are protests on the streets. These same people brandishing assault rifles are seen as terrorists by opposing sides. The Havat Gilad settlement was established as an unauthorized community in 2002 and has been dismantled by official forces and rebuilt by the settlers on many occasions. Still, it was granted legal status by the Israeli government in 2018.
The documentary helps the viewer understand how layered and complex the situation on the ground is. Mettelsiefen, does the difficult job of finding nuance in this subject, by allowing children to talk about their lives, in such a way, that their words will resonate in the minds of those watching and hearing them, and interviewees are treated with fairness and without condescension. Mettelsiefen’s storytelling strengths lie in filming the on-the-ground reality and interviewing ordinary people, particularly children. This is proven by his 2017 Academy Award nomination for ‘Watani: My Homeland’ (2016), which followed the struggle of a family to survive the ongoing Syrian war.
The children’s age in ‘A State of Rage’ allows the understanding of how an environment, narratives, stress, conflict propaganda, and other aspects can permeate their psyche as shown in their words infused with prejudice, hatred and daydreams of carnage. Not only the violence they have endured and the stress and triggers they go through in their daily lives but also how they impact their choices regarding their future.
There is also the fear of the parents of their children joining the violent action as, at a young age, many are eager “to go to war” to defend the values they were raised upon and to seek retribution for relatives and members of their communities. Mettelsiefen, with a nuanced look, portrays the appetite for aggression that breeds in the human mind. On both sides, children are seen brandishing toy guns, playing play-fight, or playing armed combat video games as if they are preparing for what awaits them as late teenagers and young adults.
They are in a state where their childhood and innocence are starting to be overtaken by the sounds of flying bullets and screams of pain. Not only do their expressions shift but also the way and tone when they speak about such matters and their dreams as imagining what they will do in the near future is a way to keep moving forward in a desperate situation.
The camera paints a deeper picture of not only their conditions but also how Mettelsiefen interprets them, so lighting and architecture become characters, and households start to resemble the subjects of the film, even those with better resources. ‘A State of Rage’ doesn’t indulge itself in appellative soundtracks and scholar talking heads, choices that set it aside from other pieces on the matter. Without a doubt, the short documentary acts as a coming-of-age tale, allowing outsiders of the Israel-Palestine dispute to see the side of those affected by the decisions of the powerful and the impacts on their livelihoods and futures.
In a Western world where grown-ups have become nothing more than kidults, this documentary is relevant as it shows how rage slaughters naïveté and how the lines between childhood innocence and adulthood maturity are blurred.
A State of Rage is available in the UK via Channel 4’s On Demand Service
Also Read: Film & TV Industry Grapples with Mental Health Impact of Gaza Conflict on UK Professionals
