HOLDING LIAT
(The Tribeca Festival runs June 4-15 in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood and Hammer to Nail has boots on the ground! Check out Chris Reeds’s Holding Liat movie review fresh from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
The terrible attack on Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7, 2023, resulted in over 1200 killed and over 250 taken hostage. In response, the government of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a full-scale war on the Palestinian people in Gaza, in the process displacing 2 million (if not more) and killing and wounding many thousands of innocent people. Israel, like all countries, has the right to defend itself, and the history of antisemitism teaches us that Jews have long been targets of genocidal hate. This does not mean, however, that those who dare to criticize Israeli policy (past and present) are antisemitic. After all, many Jewish Israelis themselves find fault with their government.
In Holding Liat, director Brandon Kramer (The First Step) along with his brother and producing partner Lance Kramer, offer a powerful, nuanced portrait of one family caught in the middle of all the horrors that ensued after the October ambush. Front and center are Yehuda and Chaya Beinin, parents of Liat Atzili, who was kidnapped by Hamas on that fateful day. Her husband, Aviv, fought back, and though there are no concrete details about what happened thereafter, we fear the worst. Fortunately, their youngest son, Netta, escaped harm, and now he works alongside his grandfather to bring his mother home.
Originally from New Jersey, Yehuda and Chaya hold dual American and Israeli citizenship. Their other daughter, Tal, lives in Portland, Oregon, as does Yehuda’s brother, Joel (even more to the left). The Beinins and Atzilis are politically progressive, committed to human rights, though not all on quite the same page as to how best to proceed.
Amazingly, despite what has happened, Yehuda remains steadfast in his convictions and directs most of his criticism at Netanyahu and the humanitarian crisis he created. Unfortunately, however, Yehuda has to make a bit of common cause with more reactionary forces when he visits the United States to lobby members of Congress for their support. Tal suggests he do what it takes: “Wear the yarmulke,” she tells her non-religious father. He doesn’t, but we understand why she says it. For them, obtaining Liat’s freedom should take precedence over everything else, even if it means rubbing elbows with those with whom they disagree.
Though Yehuda and Chaya argue over methods, their dedication to doing the right thing—for Liat and the Palestinian people—never wavers. Even more impressive, Liat’s own liberal beliefs, we learn at the end, remain more or less the same. We can grieve both Israeli and Palestinian deaths, it turns out.
Kramer is a relative, which explains his camera’s intimate access to the family’s distress. Thanks to that connection, Holding Liat is, throughout, a moving testament to the human spirit and the beauty of consistent humanitarian values. It is possible to suffer tragedy and retain one’s core beliefs.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
2025 Tribeca Fest; Brandon Kramer; Holding Liat movie review
Post a Comment
