The Viewing Booth by Liran Atzmoor and Ra’anan Alexandrowicz

(Into the World)

This documentary follows an experiment on an individual’s view on conflict in Israel. She is shown a number of videos and has to explain her own personal opinions and feelings when human rights are questioned. She has contrasting opinions as she must decide whether the videos are the truth or a form of propaganda. The participant is a female American with an interest in Israel. She explores the varying affects that the films point of view has on the viewer and how it turns them into an active witness rather than just a spectator. Her and the experimenter discuss how her own opinion clouded what was really in front of her as she missed vital elements of the clip, that the filmmaker had marked as significant.

I found this documentary very interesting as I had not previously considered how the filmmakers would alter the point of view to alter the audience’s opinions on the topic. For example, how they use tools to help the viewer focus on specific points in order to detract their attention from something else. I did, however, decide that even with this attempt to narrow the audiences view, that the observer will see what they want to see. Maia (the participant) was in agreement with me as she questioned whether the people in the videos were lying or not because she did not want to believe it was true. This is a very interesting documentary as you get to inspect the opinion of someone who has a strong knowledge of the situation and compare it to your own. I also enjoyed that this was raw footage from the set up so it was an uncut version of how she responded to the material.

Written by Molly Bowler