A personal document of oppression that is also a testament to the miraculous persistence of the human spirit, the resilience of life and the urge to seek beauty even under truly awful circumstances.

| Dec 30, 2023

A miracle of a film. Not just for its compelling and affecting narrative, but for how it managed to take shape in the face of one of the longest ongoing conflicts in the world.

| Oct 26, 2023

A documentary that needs to be seen in the U.S. and around the world: its evidence of the campaign of terror waged on Palestinian villages in Gaza by the Israeli military is incontrovertible.

| Feb 28, 2020

5 Broken Cameras is definitely worth a look but offers nothing innately new to audiences engaged in current events.

| Jul 25, 2019

Burnat presents an extremely personal insight into an incredibly complex situation that's almost impossible to wholly grasp -- and as such, may well inevitably leave some cinemagoers a little cold.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 5, 2019

... the very fact that Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers could come together and collaborate on a film dealing with such contentious subject matter offers more optimism than anything in "Five Broken Cameras" itself.

| Feb 22, 2018

Here you get a rare glimpse of exactly what the interface between a West Bank resident and the Israeli army has been like ...

| Apr 13, 2016

5 Broken Cameras is cinema made - not as if - but really, literally because the life of the film-maker depends on it.

| Original Score: 86/100 | Dec 29, 2013

... a mix of citizen journalism and social memoir.

| Mar 24, 2013

Don't look to the film for specifics, but see instead a picture that suggests the impossibility of peace and a broken system, that while effective, practically ensures another go-round with the next generation.

| Original Score: B | Mar 14, 2013

More than or in addition to being a non-fiction, the film is a piece of life told from a personal perspective.

| Feb 23, 2013

The circumstances under which this provocative, Oscar-nominated Palestinian documentary were made are just as interesting as the work itself.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 21, 2013

This is how the conflict looks from the other side of the barrier.

| Feb 21, 2013

[A] distressing portrait of everyday life in the West Bank... [B]oth horrific... and powerfully warm, funny, and human.

| Feb 21, 2013

Burnat and Davidi give us access to one slice of the conflict, packaging it into a sturdily constructed work that bristles with barely contained fury.

| Feb 18, 2013

It's a highly personalised and subjective account of the situation, yet still gives us a clear sense of how complicated life there is.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 4, 2012

A fascinating reminder of why the humble video camera can be used as a weapon against political oppression.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 24, 2012

It presents with overwhelming power a case of injustice on a massive scale, and gives us a direct experience of what it's like to be on the receiving end of oppression and dispossession ...

| Oct 21, 2012

It's impossible to understate the importance of this documentary in helping us see exactly what life is like in occupied Palestine.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Oct 19, 2012

It is of course a one-sided film, but a powerful personal testimony: the kind of material that never makes the nightly news.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 18, 2012