HRFF 2020: Our Review of ‘Objector’

Posted in Human Rights Film Festival, What's Streaming? by - December 05, 2020
HRFF 2020: Our Review of ‘Objector’

Molly Stuart’s Objector is an eye-opening documentary that explores Israel’s divided political spectrum and the long drawn out Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From the unique perspective of a young woman.

The story follows Atalya who, like all Israeli youth her age, has to become a soldier whether they like it or not. Unlike a vast majority of people, she questions the excessive practices of Israel’s military. Eventually going against her family’s political disagreements and personal concerns by refusing military service. Soon becoming imprisoned for this decision.

Objector‘s main emotional core is in the subject of Atalya with her motivation for refusing conscription being justifiable. That’s due in part to the number of friends she has currently serving. We truly get a sense of just how terrifying military service could be for someone in that age group. That’s despite having hardly any prior training.

Another side of Israel that gets a bit of focus on are the multiple amounts of civilians caught up in crossfire. Mainly, just how tragic this whole war can be for them with how many of their houses have been destroyed and villages becoming nothing but rubble.

Visually, Objector films Israel stunningly, with incredible wide shots of its many villages and surrounding deserts. Even the very brief scenes of the military prison give off a true sense of dread and unease. It paints a frightful picture of what being held in one is like.

One of the only things I can honestly complain about in this documentary is that Atalya’s family should have had a greater focus. I would have liked to have known a little bit more about their political views on this war and the conflict’s history.

Objector is an excellent documentary bringing great attention to an issue affecting another part of the world.

  • Release Date: 12/3/2020
This post was written by
Daniel is a developing young writer from the cold city of Calgary. To escape the climate he indulges in a love for films, novels, and comic books. He has a passion for Social Studies and pop culture and is pursuing media production. During high school he participated in Model UN and Av club, managing AV for school events and assemblies, and organized a film fundraiser to raise money for Remembrance Day.
Comments are closed.
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-61364310-1', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview');