An authentic story of of anguish and love. This beautiful documentary follows an extraordinary individual whose life is thoroughly intertwined with the land. Dubak is an exceptional personality in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank. This territory, occupied by Israel since the 1967 war, is where Dubak lives and where he has created a unique way in which to to justify his presence there. He is a bereaved father, an informal educator and a soul mate to the local Arab population. Together with the native Bedouin Dubak set up a retrieval and rescue mission to track missing persons in the desert. As somewhat of a lost soul himself, this kind of intense and solitary work allows him eventually to create a balance with the people and the land. The Film follows his emotional journey through the many facets that make up this complex man. He seems to have found the key to a life that is at once communal and free of politics. Dubak's philosophy is effectively summed up in his own words when he says: "I have a land, I don't have a country. I am a Palestinian".
Festivals
- Zagreb Jewish Film Festival, Croatia, 2012
- Toronto Jewish Film Festival, Canada, 2010
- Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, Canada, 2009
- Cape Town Israeli Documentary Film Festival, South Africa, 2009
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"a person like Dubak is not someone you have seen before. And such an oversized and tragic story such as this has not been told until now."
"I am immersed in this country" says Dubak on one of his endless voyages thru the desert – in a film that has not one dry or dehydrated moment. The protagonist here, who expresses himself like a poet, is the dream of every documentarian. But Dubak's power is also entrenched in his environment; in the cave where he lived, in the desert where he wandered and in his all so human emotions which are translated into this gorgeous landscape.
"The sun is shining, but it is not creating light" he says by way of explanation about what mourning is. He describes what it feels like to be a bereaved father. We have all heard about parents who are in mourning, and have seen films about the dead, but a person like Dubak is not someone you have seen before. And such an oversized and tragic story such as this has not been told until now.
How does all of this relate to the never-ending cycle of blood in this region? "In war you kill. You get killed – you need to kill them. I understand them, that's how you fight" Dubak says about his son's murders. He defines himself as a Palestinian too – as someone who is connected to the land and not the nationality. He
lives with conflict and takes care of other children while his own are often neglected. One of the locals says "Dubak his much more than a youth movement".
Dubak is Dov Weinstock who did not live to see peace or reconciliation. He did not even live to witness the "victory of values" for which he worked so hard. He was a settler who educated toward the love of the other and tolerance for all. And yet at the same time he strived for the redemption of the land. He is a singular
character who personifies the action of words and the best of human drama.
Shir Ziv/Israel Today, January 26th, 2009