May 01, 2009 11:00AM EDT

Q&A: Rachel

Rachel is a documentary about Rachel Corrie of Olympia, Washington, one of half a dozen American and British volunteers of the International Solidarity Movement (IMS) stationed in the Gaza Strip city of Rafa in 2003, who was killed while trying to stop the bulldozing of a friend's family home. The Israeli army has denied responsibility, claiming she was crushed by a mound of earth, unseen by the driver, in front of the 65-ton D9 machine regularly used to "clear" Palestinian areas of suspected terrorist presence.

Director Simone Bitton, an Israeli citizen, attempts to find out what exactly happened through video and photo archives shot by Corrie's friends on the day of her death, and military surveillance tapes from the Israeli army, as well as interviews with all of the people present on site and the military police investigators that declared it an accident. It's a sad tale of thwarted attempts at getting to the truth, and an uplifting tale of idealistic young men and women standing up to what they perceive to be grave injustices on the weak at the hands of the strong.

Nothing summarizes the film's overall message better than a brief interview with the Israeli peace activist Jonathan Polack, who provided a safe haven for Corrie's friends in Tel Aviv when they had to transport her body into Israel (which involved taking her body out of the casket and carrying it by hand over the border, as per border commands):
"Can one resist without hope?" asked Bitton.
"Yes. In revolt, there is great truth, whether it succeeds or not."

The home that Corrie shielded with her body was eventually destroyed, as were several others in its vicinity. Her legacy, however, lives on: Rafa's half-destroyed walls, covered in sniper bullet holes and seemingly indiscriminate shelling when they are still left intact, bare witness with posters, faded and new, declaring Rachel Corrie: The Martyr, and graffiti throughout town identifies her as Rachel--An American citizen with Palestinian blood. And several young men and women that participated with her in the IMS direction actions, are still involved, having been in Gaza, when no media was allowed inside, during and directly after the winter campaign that left 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead, according to Corrie's parents--who were present, tearless and full of answers for the hungry audience, during the Q&A.

One question that remains unanswered in the documentary is the presence of the U.S. Embassy during Corrie's forensic analysis (which concluded that she was not killed, or even touched, by any part of the bulldozer she stood in front of--the official cause of death was suffocation): according to the Israeli army, the U.S. was requested to provide a witness. According to the forensic report released to Corrie's parents, there was someone. The report released to the media stated that there was no one.

"We are trying to get confirmation," said Corrie's father Craig, after his wife explained that their local congressman, Brian Baird has taken up the case with the State Department. Asked whether they requested another autopsy, he said that they never though about it at the time, and added: "How much does a parent want to know about their child's body being crushed by a 65-ton bulldozer?"

The presence of Corrie's parents no doubt stimulated the goodwill emanating from the audience, but not after a hiccup. One audience member, the first to speak after the credits stopped rolling, asked: "What you did not show was how the Hamas moved into Gaza when the soldiers left," she said, adding that the perspective of the Israeli settlers should have been shown for the film to be completely unbiased. Bitton, growing visibly angry, interrupted: "Why don't you make your own film?"
 

---

Rachel has a final screening on Friday at 6:00 pm.

Read more Festival Q&As.