Karama Has no Walls 2013
Distributed by Cinema Guild, 115 West 30th Street, Suite 800, New York, NY 10001; 212-685-6242
Produced by Sara Ishaq and Hot Spot Films
Directed by Sara Ishaq
DVD , color, 26 min.
College - General Adult
Political Rights, Protest Movements
Date Entered: 04/24/2015
Reviewed by Malcolm L. Rigsby, Department of Sociology and Human Services, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, ArkansasWhat does it take to launch a revolution? Karama Has No Walls provides much to think about. Sara Ishaq takes us on a trip to Yemen. It was here in 2011 and on the heels of the forceful removal of President Mubarak of Egypt that a band of students begin a peaceful sit-in calling for President Saleh to voluntarily step down from the office he has held for 33 years. In consideration of the tumult we now find in the Middle-East this film seems to provide enlightenment about the tensions with which the indigenous people now struggle. It is this tension that is now having a surging effect upon the rest of the world. Embedded in this depiction may lay clues to help resolve the violence we face in today’s world.
One point that the film begs is the power of revolution to bring change when the formal process of a country fails to respond to the needs of the people. The West is no different, only that the tremors of revolution took place in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today the timing of revolution and integration of citizens in the working of daily government has apparently arrived. As was France during and after its revolution. Violence and bloodshed are an effect of these attempts to resolve issues that the politic of the status quo deny or ignore. Yemen certainly remains embedded in many problems and is not yet a democracy. However in this film we see one version of change toward some form of government other than autocracy. Of many separate attempts that play out across North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean countries this is one version that has attempted to take a more peaceful path.
It is in this film that we follow the live accounts and recollected narratives of two principle cameramen. Through them, we live the atrocity when a government turns on its peaceful protesters and how that simple act of unabridged power can unify and build solidarity among the citizenry. Again, we may wish to contemplate what it takes to launch a revolution.
Awards
- Winner, Best Short Film, AlJazeera International Film Festival
- Winner, Best Short Documentary, United Nations Association Film Festival
- Winner, Outstanding Short Documentary, San Francisco Arab Film Festival
- Winner, Best Short Documentary, Edindocs Film Festival
- Nominated for Best Documentary, Short Subject, 2014 Oscars