Eleven Days in May.

Although I quite often plan to visit the cinema- in reality only half-plan- I rarely follow up on this. Truth be told, I'd rather watch any desired or sought-after film in the comfort of my own living room, when I can pause and visit the loo, or make another coffee, as best suits.

But, then I caught sight of 'Eleven Days in May.' Further, in chancing to pass Cinema City, I discovered that it is currently showing in Norwich. 'Eleven Days in May' is one of those exceedingly rare diamonds that really is a 'must see!' It is unlikely to gain such an epithet from the hollowed out BBC, although it was given brief mention in the Guardian. I doubt that other branches of what may, for want of a more apt label, be termed the UK's Mainstream Media will want to go so far as to even acknowledge its existence. But they should. It is, after all, what they so frequently claim is 'their role' in, what they also claim to be, a 'functional democracy.'

In so claiming- which has not, in the light of this film, anyway yet happened- the MSM would at least be half-correct.

'Eleven Days in May,' is so much a 'must see,' that it will likely be 'missed,' pretended or otherwise, by design on the parts of many individuals. I would go so far as to predict, if 'Eleven Days in May' gains any sort of momentum as a 'must see' or 'unmissable' film, that it is likely to then also draw distracting fire from certain quarters and known individuals.

If one makes the effort to watch the film one will be most unlikely to come away dry eyed, or to be buoyed, or to be filled with bounteous hope for the future. For those who regard themselves as thoughtful, or curious, or concerned, as to what passes for the UK's role in global politics, I would argue that watching this film is even perhaps something of an obligation!

It is a film about life and, more so, untimely death inside the Occupied Territories of Palestine, ostensibly Gaza. Filmed to the solemn score of Max Richter, narrated by Kate Winslet, Mohammed Sawwaf and Michael Winterbottom dare to document, without doubt, the most achingly awful event yet in the lives of those Palestinian families who lost children to Israeli military aggression during just eleven days during May 2021.

Hundreds of Palestinian children were maimed or otherwise injured during the days, 10th- 20th May 2021, but the film crew has elected to concentrate upon specifically the bereaved families. Much of the narration is undertaken by the children, the brothers, the sisters, the friends, the infants, the families, some of whom have barely begun to come to terms with the aching void that has so dramatically been ripped into their lives and their families.

And, during the filming, within the broken homes and shattered lives, whilst the children so beautifully and perfectly share with the camera a tiny ray of what they once shared with their 'now absent' friends and siblings, one is given to churn over so many unanswered questions:

Why do these beautiful families not feature significantly, night after night, upon the UK's news channels?
Why does the UK ship so very many £millions in arms to the IDF who perpetrates this carnage?
Where are the high profile celebrities and the politicians calling for sanctions against Israel?
Which of those family homes will next be targeted for bulldozing by the Israeli government?
Why isn't Israel's apartheid spoken about upon the UK's news channels?
What gives the State of Israel the 'right' to simply take away the rights, the territories, the lives, the children of Palestine?
What does Keith Starmer really mean when he says, "Israel caused the desert to bloom?"
Why does Starmer's Labour Party not acknowledge and condemn this horror?
Why is the blood in which Israel is so steeped deemed to be so less worthy of condemnation than that in which Russia is mired?
Is our democracy safe?
Is the UK's democracy fit for purpose?
If 'our' elected representatives are prepared to (covertly) sanction the horrors perpetrated by Israel upon Palestinians what would they (covertly or overtly) sanction upon their own people?
Will the Lands of the Palestinian People be completely consumed by Israel in my few remaining years on earth?
Which of the dead Palestinian children were killed, at least in part, by a missile paid for with my taxes?
In the light of current news coverage, and the resultant demands of and about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, why are there not also images from Gaza in the daily news?


Lest the viewer should doubt the heart-rending awfulness of the situation that has ripped apart all these families featured in 'Eleven Days in May,' she/he is furnished with the facts that over 60 children were murdered during 'just' those Israeli attacks undertaken from the 10th to the 20th May. And, for further context, the quieter spoken words are regularly punctuated by the thumping impacts of yet another targeted Israeli missile, smashing into the civilian blocks of the city- the 'known-to-be-occupied-by-civilians' blocks of the city!

So compelling is the film, 'Eleven Days in May,' that it is- it was for me- impossible to cite the most shocking footage. Most likely, for many viewers, it will be the decision, on the part of the filmmakers, to have included the lifeless and shattered bodies of many of the infant victims.

The images and the details will haunt you for days, but at least you'll have been haunted by the truth!

* Since posting this Israel (IDF) has murdered Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Then, during her funeral Israeli forces charged at the mourners and coffin bearers, at one point causing Shireen's coffin to be dropped. The UK's MSM has already 'moved on,' with more vacuous celebrity tittle tattle. (updated 20th May 2022)