The documentary The Devil’s Drivers is a superb one, a near-masterpiece of point of view and explication. It follows a few subjects with one seemingly easy job: moving passengers from one spot to another. The complication is in the route plied is between Israel and the West Bank areas occupied by Palestine. For many of the drivers working the route, there is no other option—or so they believe.
At the start of the film, we are in the company of two men, the cousins Ismail and Hamouda in their cars. These first few scenes serve as introduction to the fraught job, and are filmed so well—with a view right inside the vehicles and a wider view covering the arid land—that you would be forgiven for thinking you’re watching a thriller. The film’s sound design, tense and propulsive, enhances the action. The hint that this is real comes when one subject hollers for the camera to be turned off. And at one point, the camera does go off. Moments after it comes back on, a note appears onscreen telling us that both Hamouda and Ismail were arrested by Israeli authorities. That was in 2012.
The directors reunite with these men later, but this temporary loss of the film’s initial subjects leads to a different subject: an old-timer who has left his job of smuggling work-seeking Palestinians into Israel, but is yet to find something as financially rewarding. He drives a taxi and, after the vigorous hijinks with the two cousins, he provides the documentary with placidity and reflection. He, too, was incarcerated. “My son called me uncle when I came out of prison,” he says. We get this bit of information without pain in his voice, just an acknowledgement of the life he has lived.
Everyone has some idea about the Palestine/Israel conflict but directors Daniel Carsenty and Mohammed Abugeth provide a view into lives we, in all likelihood, would never get to see otherwise. By setting up shop in the Palestinian area, there is the potential accusation of bias—but you could say this is not that kind of documentary. These, after all, are neither political leaders nor soldiers. They are just men whose fate, by being born where they were, has been decided before their existence. They are committing a crime for which they are punished but their stories, as conveyed by the directors, can provoke sympathy. But sympathy is a complex, non-neutral resource in the West Bank. Whatever one thinks about the conflict that has ravaged the area, Israel’s refusal to give work permits to some Palestinians—single men without kids have an especially hard time—can be understood through one episode the authorities connect to Ismail. Four people are killed at a restaurant in Tel Aviv. The culprits, two men from Yatta, are apprehended. It is said to be the first ISIS attack in Israel and the authorities accuse Ismail of bringing them into the country. One night, Ismail’s house is raided and he’s thrown in jail. He says he’s innocent, as does his family, but there are phone records. The men had contacted him but he had decided he wasn’t working that day. Someone else drove them into Israel, his family claims.
It is, of course, wrong to imprison an innocent man, and yet the situation explains Israel’s immigration policy. Most countries would rather err on the side of too much caution in deciding who it allows to access its lands. Unfortunately, young Palestinians dream of finishing school and then finding work in Israel. Unstoppable force meets immovable object: this is perhaps the theme of these countries and their foreign policy towards their neighbours.
“You lose control of your destiny,” one of the men who speaks on camera says. “Going to Israel is like leaving yourself to chance.” But that chance is all some of these men can see. It is to Abugeth and Carsenty’s credit that this masculine desperation comes through in a documentary that can be viewed as both heavily political and merely expository. Streamers and festivals catering to audiences curious about the world and/or seeking insight into the human cost of the Israel-Palestine conflict must find space for this remarkable documentary.
Directors: Daniel Carsenty, Mohammed Abugeth
Cinematography: Daniel Carsenty
Editing: Laia Prat
Music, sound design: Henning Fuchs, Christoph Kozik
Executive producers: Ben Dressel, Rolf Mayer
Co-producers: Nicklas Krüger, Felix Blum
Production companies: Mark it Zero, Propellerfilm, Chunk Xtr
Venue: Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (Newcomers Competition)
In Arabic
92 minutes
