381. The Oslo Diaries; movie review

THE OSLO DIARIES
Cert TBA
91 mins

BBFC advice: TBA

Throughout my 55 years, world news stories have come and gone but one has been constant - strife in the Middle East.
Therefore, it was with much excitement that the proposect of peace between Isreal and the Palestinians emerged in the 1990s.
Many wondered how two such intransigently opposed sides could have found common ground and how the preliminary talks came about.
Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan's documentary chronicles the negotiations which inspired hope but ended in anguish.
Guilded by diaries of the negotiators, personal photographs, current interviews and contemporary news footage, The Oslo Diaries chronicles the risk of initially secret meetings and the controversy when the talks became public.
The skill of this documentary is that it will appeal to those who are students of the Middle East but is also entirely accessible to those with more superficial knowledge.

It centres on the two university professors who were the first to represent the Israelis in the tentative opening talks and then broadens out to the Palestinian delegation who, long after mistrust had melted, ended up becoming unlikely friends.
To those of us on the outside, peace in the Middle East seems like a no-brainer. Why would anyone want to live in the shadow of permanent conflict.
However, it is clear from The Oslo Diaries that merely taking part in the process was daring, politically and personally.
Indeed, as is now known with hindsight, it cost Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzak Rabin, his life.
A decade after the peace talks, I visited Israel on a press trip and was surprised by the cheek by jowl living arrangements of Jews and Arabs.
As The Olso Diaries show, many still have a despire for peace. I hope that they are eventually in the signifucant majority and the minority are silenced.

Reasons to watch: Deep insight into one of the most momentous chapters in Middle East relations
Reasons to avoid: Unfortunately, it relates to optimism which has long since been extinguished.

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8/10

Director quote - Mor Loushy: "When we decided to make a film about Oslo, we started talking to all the participants and you ask very politely, 'Did you save some pictures?' We found out that most of the negotiators wrote diaries, so all of that really opened the window for us to tell this story.”

The big question - Will there ever be peace in the Middle East?

Share this post