Soldier on the Roof

The ancient West Bank city of Hebron is a holy place for Jews, Muslims and Christians. There's a small Jewish enclave at the center of Hebron’s oldest neighborhood, where countless Israeli soldiers are posted on the rooftops to protect 800 settlers from their 120,000 Palestinian neighbors. The filmmaker regularly lived among the orthodox Jewish families for three years, and paints a picture of their daily lives - lives that are marked by constant conflicts. These small local problems all boil down to one fundamental question: who has territorial rights to the area? Intimate interviews with Hebron’s Jewish settlers reveal how determined they are to stay here: mothers and children make signs to protest the presence of the Palestinian population, who they often describe as "terrorists." One running gag in the film centers on a resident who paints important religious sites. As he poses with his works next to the now damaged or inaccessible buildings to explain their significance, he is constantly interrupted by soldiers or passersby. Time and time again, he accepts his fate with comic resignation and stoic determination.