Movie · 2011 · War, Documentary · 1h 30m · NR · English
Curator score: 9.3/10 (17.7K ratings)
Overview
Five broken cameras – and each one has a powerful tale to tell. Embedded in the bullet-ridden remains of digital technology is the story of Emad Burnat, a farmer from the Palestinian village of Bil’in, which famously chose nonviolent resistance when the Israeli army encroached upon its land to make room for Jewish colonists. Emad buys his first camera in 2005 to document the birth of his fourth son, Gibreel. Over the course of the film, he becomes the peaceful archivist of an escalating struggle as olive trees are bulldozed, lives are lost, and a wall is built to segregate burgeoning Israeli settlements.
Ratings
Curator score: 9.3/10
IMDb: 7.9/10
Letterboxd: 4.26/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 78
TMDB: 7.5/10
Director
Guy Davidi, Emad Burnat
Production
Guy DVD Films, Alegria Productions, Burnat Films, CNC
A powerful, immediate documentary that turns one village’s daily life into a sustained act of witness. Its strength is the intimacy of the footage: family, land, grief, and resistance are all captured from inside the experience rather than observed at a distance.
Best for
viewers interested in political documentaries and human-rights cinema
audiences drawn to first-person, on-the-ground filmmaking
people who appreciate documentaries about nonviolent resistance and occupation
viewers comfortable with emotionally heavy, confrontational subject matter
Skip if
you want a neutral or detached political overview
you prefer light, uplifting, or purely observational documentaries
you are looking for broad historical context over lived, personal testimony
you are sensitive to scenes of conflict, injury, and loss
Overview
Five Broken Cameras is less a conventional documentary than a lived record of endurance. Built from Emad Burnat’s damaged home videos, it transforms everyday family moments into a chronicle of land seizures, protest, and escalating state violence. The result is immediate, messy, and deeply human.
Worth noting
What makes it resonate is the collision between tenderness and devastation. A child’s growth, olive trees, and village routines sit beside tear gas, arrests, and destruction, making the political feel personal without ever softening its stakes. The camera becomes both witness and shield, a fragile tool for memory.
Bottom line
This is essential viewing for anyone interested in documentary as resistance. It is emotionally punishing, but also formally compelling: the roughness of the footage only sharpens its urgency. The film’s power lies in how plainly it insists that recording can be a moral act.
Top Letterboxd reviews
zach carter (4★) · 423 likes
when 'israel' cuts off electricity to the land it occupies, it is trying to create a black out so its fascist crimes aren't seen by the world. brave people like emad have made sure that history cannot be rewritten.
⋆☁︎｡⋆ lexi ⋆｡☁︎⋆ (4★) · 337 likes
“We all lose our childhood at some point. Like Daba lost his childlike grin. But while we erase every piece of our childhood, it’s the anger that remains.”
From the River to the Sea. 🍉💚
sam · 247 likes
anyone who condemns forms of violent revolutionary resistance against imperialism and occupation is a puritanical coward siding with fascism.
suggest those who “condemn hamas” and stubbornly play both-sides to watch this documentary. current day events don’t exist in a vacuum and neither does palestine’s struggle for liberation.
v i l l a d s (4★) · 145 likes
"What did the olive trees do?"
An absolutley essential documentary. Filled with beautiful imagery and heartbreaking footage. In my opinion the definition of a "Must-watch"
Buzz (4★) · 137 likes
"Clinging to nonviolent ideals isn't easy when death is all around"
#FreePalestine🇵🇸