The broken cameras referred to in the title of this documentary belong to Emad Burnat, a Palestinian who used them to record the turmoil in the West Bank village where he lives with his wife and four young sons.
Teaming with an Israeli filmmaker, Guy Davidi, Burnat chronicles his experiences with his neighbors and the Israeli army in a multiyear conflict over Israel’s construction of a barrier that will take away much Palestinian land. Tempers flare, olive trees are bulldozed and burned, children are arrested in nighttime roundups, there are bloody confrontations and innocent lives are lost.
“When I film, I feel like the camera protects me,’’ Burnat says. But that isn’t necessarily true. He’s arrested, and he is seriously injured in a car accident. (Four of his brothers are also seized at various times.) But Burnat seems obsessed with his decision to record the daily grind that is his life, even though his wife is frustrated by his activism.
The issues are complex and not easily solved. But no matter which side you are on, you’ll be moved by this intimate work.