by Brian Hioe
語言:
English
Photo Credit: Film Poster
This is a No Man is an Island film review written in collaboration with Cinema Escapist. Keep an eye out for more!
UNCOMMITTED PROVIDES a look at the organizing efforts of Palestinian American members of the Democratic Party in the course of the 2024 presidential election season.
In particular, the documentary focuses on Palestinian Americans based in Dearborn, Michigan. As Dearborn is home to a large Palestinian American population, this makes it a center of organizing for what comes to be known as the Uncommitted Movement. That is, for Democrats who refuse to endorse Joe Biden in the Democratic Party primaries.
It is, of course, the issue of Palestine–and the Biden administration’s support for Israel–that is why Palestinian American Democrats have broken from the Biden administration. The Uncommitted Movement, then, is in this sense a protest movement against Biden.
As the documentary shows, many are driven by identity concerns–as well as a desire to reconcile their identities both as Palestinians, some of whom have family in Gaza, and as Americans. Nevertheless, refusing to support Biden leads to condemnations from those who take the view that a split vote will result in a Trump victory.
Certainly, Uncommitted takes on an interesting and complex subject. However, the documentary’s issues with narrative structure somewhat undercut the film. For one, the documentary presumes a great degree of contextual knowledge from the viewer, including familiarity with the history of Israel and Palestine.
Consequently, even as the main focus of the documentary is specifically what occurs in the US with Palestinian American organizers, why conflict would break out after October 7th, as well as the intertwined relationship of the US and Israel, may be a bit opaque to those less familiar with the history. In this sense, the documentary may be most understandable to American viewers.
Likewise, another flaw of Uncommitted may be the broad view it takes of its subjects. Specifically, while the Uncommitted Movement is the main object of focus, there is not enough time given in the film to the individual members of the movement it focuses on, along with their personal histories and motivations. In that sense, the overall effect is that there is not a clear point of entry for viewers into the Uncommitted Movement.
As a look into a period of recent history, or into the dynamics of American electoral politics, Uncommitted is interesting enough. Nevertheless, one comes away from the documentary with a sense that the movie could have made more of the source material and subject.