Rachel
Simone Bitton
2009 - 100 min - Vidéo - Couleur - France

"On 16 March 2003, Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old peace activist, was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer as she was trying to prevent the destruction of Palestinian houses. Two opposing theses exist as to the circumstances of her death: a deliberate murder in the view of Rachel’s companions, a fatal accident for Tsahal, the Israel Defense Forces.
The film reconstitutes the unfolding of events, but the closer it gets, the more fragmented the truth becomes. Only the readings from Rachel’s diary and the e-mails that she sent to her parents give the true dimension of her death. This voice questioning the meaning of life is echoed in the film by two shots: one of the Tsahal spokeswoman who plays the card of communication according to the principle that transparency is the best form of camouflage; and other of a conscript who cannot explain how war was able to push him into acts that he finds reprehensible in civil life. Blind warfare is the blindness that killed Rachel Corrie."
(Yann Lardeau)