Tantura – An Unsettling Narrative-Driven Documentary

History can be a tumultuous thing. In the end, it is merely one piece in forming perception over time. Most tend to gravitate towards the good more so than the bad aspects but it isn’t always so simple as both are so often intertwined in one’s history whether they want it to be or not. Sometimes that can be blinding as many are transfixed on what they know or believe, not knowing anything else, or what they prefer to remember at the expense of the truth rather than what actually happened. This could be the case when it comes to a lot of things though when it comes to Israel, their history featured plenty of good and bad. However, some may not know the whole story as the powers that be worked to make sure that it never came out in order to control the narrative. Tantura is a documentary about the titular town affected by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the subsequent attempts to silence and discredit an Israeli researcher and to cover-up the alleged atrocities committed there and rewrite history so Israel and its IDF can be portrayed in a more positive light.

Using interviews with surviving soldiers from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and other survivors from Tantura as well as other prominent figures in the story alongside archival footage, including pictures, audio recordings, and newsreel footage, Tantura weaves a compelling narrative that dives deep into the concept of history as it deciphered through several interpretations of the alleged Tantura massacre where Palestinian Arabs were murdered by Israeli soldiers. Accounts of that massacre differed greatly both favorably and unfavorably, from the number of victims, how they were killed, or whether Palestinian Arabs were even killed at all. Contrasting those accounts with the archival footage definitely made for some jarring moments that only highlighted the extent of what happened and how times have changed and they moved on in their own ways. The overall dismissiveness of their actions was simply jaw-dropping. That being said, with most being in their early to late 90s, memory isn’t necessarily a reliable thing therefore that is a factor that should be considered.

Collecting those recordings as part of a 1988 thesis by researcher Teddy Katz, he found himself in the line of fire as his thesis was disputed in 2000 as part of a newspaper expose which was followed by a defamation lawsuit made against him by a group of surviving veterans from the war. Suggesting that there may have been ulterior motives for the lawsuit, the ultimate goal appeared to be to silence and discredit him as a means to maintain a more favorable past history in the eyes of the Israeli people and the rest of the world. Katz was merely a part of a much larger plan by the Israeli government to rewrite history in their favor which was sad in and of itself. Nevertheless, the film performed its own investigation which may very well lend credence to Katz’s original thesis but there was only so much they could do. In what will surely have audiences on the edge of their seats, it would have been nice to see more of it as the film leans heavily on the saga of Katz and his legal drama. However, the film needed more time to truly do the full of scope of its subject matter justice.

Ultimately, the great documentaries can spark conversation and this will most certainly be the case with Tantura. It may be hard to watch for some audiences but it is an important one because those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it whether they want to acknowledge it or not.

still courtesy of Real Peak Films

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.