“The camera always tells the same thing. We see a small part of what we know. We don’t necessarily know what we’re seeing.”
Many emotions can be evoked more heavily through images than with words. Yet the right circumstances, or situations, even order in which they are presented can hold the key to what is truly shown. While wandering on the safer side of the Gaza border, Anat Even began filming what she saw. From October 2023 onwards, this state of mourning continued her on this path. In another attempt to show the sorrow filled and painful reality of this treacherous place, Even creates this essay through film. To try and explore the true purpose behind causalities and responsibilities, Collapse is a silent and harrow piece of cinema.
A deep text graces the screen as bombs are being dropped just miles away. In other words the people, fully aware of how ignorant, barbaric, wicked, and destructive has spread through their country. They know this has happened because of the approval received by the government. Approval that has ruined the lives of many, and changed the world forever. In her direction and creation of Collapse, Even tells what she deems the truth to her audience. She is aware that the people know what is going on. The sad thing is, though everyone can see the genocide and pure destruction, not everyone believes it is as negative as some.
Even’s view is not only critical against the world, but towards herself as well. She questions everything including her belonging. With little hope that things can change, it is hard to see a neutrality from her in stance. Yet with help from phone calls she makes, and opinions from companions, you can she her choice to include more than just her view. While the audience may see specifically what she shows, they hear much more.
Collapse feels different in terms of its filmmaking. Being spoken to as a member of the audience not with words specifically, but through images. Everything Even shows us is specific and influential. Up until a point, there is a moment where you wish the film could have stayed ‘silent’. These images could be seen as nothing. But when you take the time to reflect, you see that they are truly the remnants of what has been destroyed and left behind by the violence. As words are spoken by Even, or those she speaks to, the audience may not retain them all. But even without what is being said out loud, the images speak enough.
That is the power of Collapse, the idea that an image can replace 1000 words. Images, moving images in the context of film, can have such an impact on an individual. With what she chooses to show the world in her film, Anat Even has attempted to bring the question to the forefront. Through the medium of cinema she has continued to share this horrendous violence that continues to occur. Perhaps through her piece, and those that are more to come, it can truly impact those and cause a change.