After October 7th, 2023, the world woke up to the atrocities of what would be the beginnings of one of the most heinous war crimes known to humankind. Most of us, who were gleefully living in our bubbles relied on social media to witness the different sides of said crime, with censorship and manipulation clouding our judgments of deciding who to support or how to show our collective grief of what has essentially turned into a genocide. Our governments deliberately turned away from showing solidarity, or even acknowledging the fact that innocent lives were lost every day, just because it did not serve their own, selfish agendas.
Breakthrough News journalist Kei Pritsker and filmmaker Michael T. Workman’s “The Encampments” is not just a stark criticism of the US government’s disregard for dismissing any pro-Palestinian sentiments as they did not align with their war crimes—it is also a potent documentary that takes a look at the struggle to be on the right side of history in a world that is aggressively trying to curb “free speech.”
An on-the-ground documentation of one of the most important student movements in modern history, “The Encampments,” which had its world premiere at the CPH: DOX Film Festival ahead of its theatrical release, comes out at a critical conjuncture. Student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who is one of the voices of the documentary was recently detained after the Trump administration’s fascist policies started curbing any voices that don’t attest to their ways.
The documentary’s narrative revolves around the student body at Columbia University’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampments” and their struggle to convince the establishments to divest from all U.S. and Israeli companies that manufacture weapons that are directly funding the genocide. The collective voice of the student body, which initially involved only immigrant students, before everyone with an open heart and mind joined in, later turned into a larger collective as universities all over the country decided to step in to fight for justice.
Despite the resilience shown by these young minds, what the documentary shows is how those in power are always trying to silence those who don’t support their stand. For a large part of the nation, the protests were sold as anti-semantic and anti-Isralei with students deemed Hamas sympathizers when the reality on the ground was the opposite. Pritsker, who spent 12 days with the students, singing songs of hope and compassion, carefully uncovers, captures, and debugs the narrative sold by media agents like FOX and CNN (the mouthpieces of the government propaganda at this point) by showing the welcoming nature of the protest.
The documentary also draws parallels with the 1968 protest for the Vietnamese War that was also squashed by the NYPD, just like the current student protest. The only difference now is just how blatant the abuse of power has become. But then again, this intimate documentation has within it the power of resilience and despite how bleak the future looks for America – or any other repressive regime in the world, those who are on the right side of history will always prevail.
Through footage directly out of Gaza, the heartbreaking nature of the documentary will touch you no matter what side you support. Although, to casual viewers, the film might feel anti-establishment, there’s no other side when genocide is concerned. By not playing with how the documentary is edited, Michael T Workman and Kei Pritsker offer us a first-hand look at how standing your ground to support what you believe in, no matter what kind of opposition you are faced with, is the only way to move forward.
