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'War of 33' conveys strong emotions surrounding Israel-Hezbollah conflict, but offers little factual support

Date published: 7/17/2008

BY STEPHANIE BOSCOVITCH

After watching "The War of 33," a documentary produced by Big Noise Films about the 33-day conflict in Lebanon and Israel in 2006, my reaction was complete shock and fear.

The documentary shows the point of view of a Lebanese mother. Heartrending pictures and video clips that I had never seen before detail the lives and emotions of the Lebanese people during the conflict.

I wish now that I still hadn't seen them.

The war erupted when Lebanese terrorists from Hezbollah--now considered a political party by some--attacked a group of Israeli soldiers. After that, Israel responded with air strikes. Both sides faced heavy casualties in the weeks that followed.

Hanady Salman narrates the story, reciting her own letters and revealing images of Lebanon and its disturbed grounds. Salman also interviews many families that lost husbands, wives and even small children.

This documentary lacked a lot of information and mainly showed just the powerful emotions of the people. It should have been made objectively with many facts, but honestly, it shows only the views of the Lebanese who despise the Israelis. Without doing further research, it is difficult to watch this film and fully grasp the whole story.

It is, without a doubt, upsetting what the Lebanese families are going through, for not all of them are Hezbollah terrorists, and many didn't want to experience any of these attacks. But one cannot disregard the poor soldiers of Israel who were murdered that first day, for they probably had families waiting at home for them, as well.

As the film ends, viewers are left to wonder: "How much more rage can this world be crammed with?" One day, could our country of freedom and love wake up to a war in our own front yards? Let's hope that day never occurs.

Stephanie Boscovitch is a rising junior at Riverbend High School.

Date published: 7/17/2008