To Shoot an Elephant

Through its brutality, the disproportionate means used, the bombing of civilian districts, and the use of banned weapons such as phosphorus bombs, Israel’s “Cast Lead” operation against Hamas, deployed in Gaza from 27 December 2008 to 18th January 2009 in the middle of the “Christmas truce”, stirred the emotions of the international community with the result that Israel now stands accused of war crimes. To shoot an elephant denounces the excesses of a military operation that went far beyond its stated goals, employing a deliberate intention to terrorise that has now backfired on its perpetrators and united the Gazan population behind its “martyrs”. The adroitness of this denunciation lies in its point of observation, in the filmmakers’ choice to follow the three weeks of conflict from within a Palestinian ambulance crew. Yann Lardeau)