What a brilliant Mayor

This is a documentary that doesn't take an explicit stance towards its subject, rather it sits back and lets us observe what is going on and reach our own conclusions.

Two big surprises for me - one was to see Ramallah as very much a modern city, and very multi-cultural. And secondly to see in practice that there is a thriving Christian community in Palestine, and the elected mayor is a himself a Christian. It is far from all about towel-headed hot-heads and burnt out buildings. 

Musa comes across as a charming and dedicated public servant. The wider politics underpins everything even as he is dealing with random fires and sewage leaks - Palestine is a virtual state imprisoned by an apartheid regime, and Ramallah is a city that is surrounded by illegal foreign settlers who have stolen the land under protection of the occupying force; an occupying force that regularly enters the city uninvited to spread terror and disruption.

He was very clear in his exposition to a visiting German Parliamentary delegation as to exactly why it as not yet appropriate for them to try and promote grass-roots contact between the conflicted communities. Prince William's visit went much better, although the Palestinians well recognised that the English Royal Family doesn't do politics - so what's the point! 

Overall this was a very welcome different look at life in Palestine, and should be widely seen as it helps build an understanding of the terrible nature of the illegal Israeli actions. 

It Rings True

Although it is quite short (or possibly because of that as the others all have scenes that go on far too long), this is the most satisfying of the Small Axe set. 

Again dealing with a true story, it unfolds Alex's background in a way that enables us to both understand where and why he is what he is in 1981, and see the seeds of what he is to become after the film ends.

The milieu is convincing, the arrival of young Alex ("I'm from Surrey" when asked where in Africa he is from by his new radical mates) in wide-eyed amazement in Brixton is a treat.

The 1981 riots are not treated in any detail, more as background to Alex's story - that would have been a different film hose core theme was already covered in Mangrove.

A slow burn

A documentary using only natural sound, with no voiceover or interviews, and a languid visual style that is sometimes at odds with the subject matter.

Possibly it started out as a straightforward reflective observational documentary about life on Lampedusa focusing on the boy, Samuele, to explore the local culture - strongly tied to the sea, but then these external events intervened with boats full of distressed and dying refugees being plucked from the ocean and brought to the island for onward processing.

We see extraordinary detail of the work of the navy rescuers and glimpse some of the refugee experience, but it is a very narrow window e peer through - nothing about how they came to be there or where they are taken - and there is no contact between the boy and those passing through. 

The film never really resolves whether it is a documentary about life on Lampedusa, or a documentary about migrants attempting to reach a safe haven in Europe.

Having said that it was pretty compelling viewing.