Review of The Viewing Booth

Can humans truly justify everything or are some things just unexplainable? Ra’anan Alexandrowicz delves head first into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, cleverly leaving the viewer considering how we respond to stimuli placed in front of us. Through the use of a laboratory-esque set up and Maia, an American student who is strongly Pro-Israel, the film juxtaposes the reality of film and our own perceived reality with a series of videos depicting both sides of the conflict.

Alexandrowicz utilises a number of videos across the social strata to show the infiltration of the conflict into everyday life, from soldiers giving out food and water to children being abused by the military. However, two videos are the most notable for how they provoke an interesting discussion surrounding bias and the power of the viewer and the camera lens to distort reality. For instance, a Pro-Palestinian film shows children in bed confronted with guns. Despite the obvious violation of privacy, Maia appears to only justify their actions with the argument of the camera having bias. Is the film distorting reality or is the viewer’s belief system? The symbolism of the videos seeps into later discussions when presented with soldiers giving Palestinian children cheese. Is this exemplifying the gentility of the soldiers or is it drawing to light the power struggles between the opposing sides?

The Viewing Booth is a fabulous film which explores the concept of how we relate to film. We may think that being presented with stimuli that contradicts our belief system would cause us to question ourselves. We may think that we can be objective viewers. However, Maia really proves that human beliefs can justify anything.

Written by Tess Cox