Route 181: The fragments of a journey through Palestine

In Summer 2002, Palestinian filmmaker Michel Khleifi and Israeli filmmaker Eyal Sivan set off on a cinematographic journey in their country. ROUTE 181 (270mins, 2004) follows the borders drawn up by UN Resolution 181 to separate Palestine into two states – one Jewish and one Arab. The filmmakers present oral history from a wide variety of people who live along the 1947 partition line, while at the same time allow for minutes-long footage of the monotonous grey concrete wall. By portraying both the divide of the physical landscape and that of the humans that inhabit it, viewers receive a fuller understanding of this conflicted part of the world.