The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue
(Canada, 95 min.)
Dir. Barry Avrich
Programme: TIFF Docs (World premiere)
Director Barry Avrich frequently says that The Road Between Us isn’t a “political film,” but the thunderous boos that drowned out moderator Lisa Laflamme when she mentioned 64,000 Palestinian deaths during the film’s TIFF Q&A say otherwise. The compelling character study offers a powerful reminder that the personal is inevitably political. To Avrich’s credit, the documentary is a human story, not a polemic. But it’s risky to present such a harrowing and moving story and remove it from the context in which the hero finds himself. And when the context for the story is the most complicated geopolitical situation of our time, that’s a big blindspot to reconcile.
The Road Between Us gives former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) general Noam Tibon a well-earned hero’s salute for courageously saving his family during the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. The film tells how he fearlessly drew upon his experience to careen into enemy fire when Hamas besieged Kibbutz Nahal Oz, the community in which his son’s family lived less than one kilometer from the Gaza border. Noam and his wife, Gali–every bit an equal as a hero–tell their story in this gripping saga. It’s an emotional tale of heroism and selflessness, too, as their actions save over 400 people during the deadly attacks.
The filmmakers meticulously recreate the atrocities of October 7 by drawing upon an extensive array of surveillance footage. Using videos livestreamed by Hamas during the attacks, along with footage from security cameras in the kibbutz, highway traffic cams, and dashboards of cars, The Road Between Us finds many resources to recreate nerve-wracking moments seemingly in real time. Film editor Dave Kennedy performs a Herculean task by cutting together the visuals to complement every beat of the story. Moreover, the extensive range of security in both the availability of footage and the fortress-like barrier around the kibbutz speak to the might of Israel’s military state. Noam and Gali navigate a land that resembles a war zone that was always waiting for the inevitable strike.
Interviews with Noam, Gali, their son Amir and daughter-in-law Miri, and other survivors capture a day that seems like hell on earth. The ticking clock of The Road Between Us begins when members of Hamas infiltrate Kibbutz Nahal Oz at daybreak, cutting through barriers that look so impenetrable that the IDF long pulled out forces from the area. The clock keeps ticking and interviewees tell how fences and cameras provided little more than a false sense of security. Noam, whose family nicknames him 9-1-1 for his ability to solve any emergency, shows the effectiveness of human intuition under fire.
Devastating accounts from Amir and Miri share a suspenseful waiting game. They, like the luckier neighbours, survived in their panic room. The sealed cell keeps them alive in suffocating darkness, while WhatsApp messages capture the real time play by play that Noam receives from Amir. These elements situate the story within the general’s mindset as his duty to protect the family kicks him into Rambo mode.
Every second of Noam and Gali’s story undeniably unfolds with heart-pounding intensity. Seeing these images, whether for the first time or umpteenth, proves traumatic as shots of bodies upon bodies litter streets and neighbourhoods. Violence from the Nova music festival plays like something out of a horror movie. The scale of the carnage is staggering.
Avrich finds captivating storytellers in the general and his wife, too. The testimony offers equally compelling evidence of a family’s pain, and their selflessness as they take detours to save additional lives en route to Kibbutz Nahal Oz. However, the film’s lack of interest in the context of the attacks serves another kind of violence. Nobody talks about why Hamas infiltrates the Israeli border, or why Kibbutz Nahal Oz needs a colossal fence to rival a maximum security prison. The absence of context can be dangerous when a film moves so quickly and becomes overwhelming in terms of emotional impact.
It’s fair to make a film about a family, and The Road Between Us is absolutely moving as an account that asks everyone what they would do if their loved ones faced immediate danger. However, the narrowness of scope limits the conversation. There’s no real mention of Palestine besides frequent reference to terrorists, or no recognition of the circumstances that taught the film’s hero how to react in an emergency. The film, however, does ask some very tough questions of the IDF and its failure to respond to the Hamas attacks in a timely manner. Gali’s final considerations reflect upon the fiasco of Israel’s military complex if it fails to protect Jews in the promised land. But the film doesn’t go there in any substantial way.
The Road Between Us offers an undeniably powerful window into a family’s ordeal during a brutal tragedy, but that window inevitably becomes politicized when one draws the drapes to obscure the world that’s outside its frame. Audiences should decide for themselves if they’re willing to look outside and see the full view.
