I envisioned This Land Is Mine as the last scene of my potential-possible-maybe- feature film, Seder-Masochism, but it’s the first (and so far only) scene I’ve animated. As the Bible says, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
This Land Is Mine from Nina Paley on Vimeo.
Who’s Killing Who? A Viewer’s Guide
Because you can’t tell the players without a pogrom!
Early Man
This generic “cave man” represents the first human settlers in Israel/Canaan/the Levant. Whoever they were.
Canaanite
What did ancient Canaanites look like? I don’t know, so this is based on ancient Sumerian art.
Egyptian
Canaan was located between two huge empires. Egypt controlled it sometimes, and…
Assyrian
….Assyria controlled it other times.
Israelite
The “Children of Israel” conquered the shit out of the region, according to bloody and violent Old Testament accounts.
Babylonian
Then the Baylonians destroyed their temple and took the Hebrews into exile.
Macedonian/Greek
Here comes Alexander the Great, conquering everything!
Greek/Macedonian
No sooner did Alexander conquer everything, than his generals divided it up and fought with each other.
Ptolemaic
Greek descendants of Ptolemy, another of Alexander’s competing generals, ruled Egypt dressed like Egyptian god-kings. (The famous Cleopatra of western mythology and Hollywood was a Ptolemy.)
Seleucid
More Greek-Macedonian legacies of Alexander.
Hebrew Priest
This guy didn’t fight, he just ran the Second Temple re-established by Hebrews in Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile.
Maccabee
Led by Judah “The Hammer” Maccabee, who fought the Seleucids, saved the Temple, and invented Channukah. Until…
Roman
….the Romans destroyed the Second Temple and absorbed the region into the Roman Empire…
Byzantine
….which split into Eastern and Western Empires. The eastern part was called the Byzantine Empire. I don’t know if “Romans” ever fought “Byzantines” (Eastern Romans) but this is a cartoon.
Arab Caliph
Speaking of cartoon, what did an Arab Caliph look like? This was my best guess.
Crusader
After Crusaders went a-killin’ in the name of Jesus Christ, they established Crusader states, most notably the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Mamluk of Egypt
Wikipedia sez, “Over time, mamluks became a powerful military caste in various Muslim societies…In places such as Egypt from the Ayyubid dynasty to the time of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, mamluks were considered to be “true lords”, with social status above freeborn Muslims.[7]” And apparently they controlled Palestine for a while.
Ottoman Turk
Did I mention this is a cartoon? Probably no one went to battle looking like this. But big turbans, rich clothing and jewelry seemed to be in vogue among Ottoman Turkish elites, according to paintings I found on the Internet.
Arab
A gross generalization of a generic 19-century “Arab”.
British
The British formed alliances with Arabs, then occupied Palestine. This cartoon is an oversimplification, and uses this British caricature as a stand-in for Europeans in general.
Palestinian
The British occupied this guy’s land, only to leave it to a vast influx of….
European Jew/Zionist
Desperate and traumatized survivors of European pogroms and death camps, Jewish Zionist settlers were ready to fight to the death for a place to call home, but…
PLO/Hamas/Hezbollah
….so were the people that lived there. Various militarized resistance movements arose in response to Israel: The Palestinian Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
State of Israel
Backed by “the West,” especially the US, they got lots of weapons and the only sanctioned nukes in the region.
Guerrilla/Freedom Fighter/Terrorist
Sometimes people fight in military uniforms, sometimes they don’t. Creeping up alongside are illicit nukes possibly from Iran or elsewhere in the region. Who’s Next?
and finally…
The Angel of Death
The real hero of the Old Testament, and right now too.
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Thanks for this–war never was the answer.
They should have the US using the nukes destory them at the end lol
You’re building a nice presentation but nothing more. You’re missing the accuracy of history, since history is not only schematic drawing cartoons. For example, you put the “Palestinians” before “European Jew / Zionist†(which you falsely draw as an Orthodox Jew). From the history point of view it is an absurd as you also put all the occupiers of the Land of Israel as equal (as if you put the Indian tribes that first Americans terrorized and occupied as occupiers themselves). Of all the characters in your cartoons only the Canaanite, Israelite, (why religious one?), Hebrew Priest, Maccabee, European Jew / Zionist and the State of Israel, are building out of authentic indigenous character of the Land of Israel. They were invaders in some point in history but turn immediately to be the lords of that land, creating kingdoms and sovereign states, writing and glorifying the land and keep it cultivated. All the others, including the ‘Palestinian’ are newly historically invaders that had never see that land as theirs, never created a local new indigenous people, state or culture. The Islamic imperialism although being Longley didn’t flourish the rural areas nor the deserts. They were far parts of giant Islamic empires. The Europeans invaded and conquered North America and quite quickly created their own national state trying to collect all different individuals under one national consensus. It had never occurred with Muslims in the Land of Israel, although Muslims were the Majority and the occupied Jews in minority, for the last centuries (although in Jerusalem the Jews are the majority since 1840).
Finally I take issue with the idea that the Zionists settled on “someone else’s†land. If you’re talking about the West Bank and Gaza, you have a case to make but before 1967, the vast majority of the land that the Jews settled on was uninhabited and up to that point uninhabitable. They had to dry up swamps by planting eucalyptus trees and irrigate crops in the desert with sea water in order to settle the land that now makes up most of Israel proper. You wouldn’t know that from looking at Israel today because there is a lot of lush greenery, and a lot of cities and towns around but those are all man-made. Planted and built by guess who: Zionists.
The Europeans invaded and conquered North America and quite quickly created their own national state trying to collect all different individuals under one national consensus. It had never occurred with Muslims in the Land of Israel, although Muslims were the Majority and the occupied Jews in minority, for the last centuries (although in Jerusalem the Jews are the majority since 1840).
I think that we got enough playing of cowboys and indians, that were in the 2nd grade:)
Yep Israelites conquered the land – but infighting brought them down within 300 years. Whether Zionists improved the land or not is entirely irrelevant. They still kicked people off land that didn’t belong to them and never should have. What the US & England did after WWII is reprehensible. I would like to see each and every one of you calmly step out of your home to allow another to come in and take it from you because of “divine right”. Not a single person will go quietly – it will be a unjust as the creation of Israel.
Brilliant. Just brilliant. Thank you, this should be in the opening lecture of sociology, psychology, and history classes.
How are the copyright issues with the music solved in this instance?
Very interested to know if Nina Paley could share some of the problems other artists may face when trying similar projects.
Thank you so much Nina for your invaluable contribution to making this world a better place for all!
Al the best from Norway!
Sincerely.
Zid / “True North” (Nom de Guerre)
Thank you Nina Paley. Exceptionally well done. Your animation concisely illustrates in 03:32 that Palestine has been one of the most disputed, violent, marched over, invaded, occupied, conquered and ruled pieces of real estate on the globe, and that no single ethnic group, tribe, clan, cult, heritage, race or religion has an original or exclusive claim to the territory of Palestine.
Oh, and I also liked your costumes and uniforms.
“This Land is Mine” should be attached to every DVD of the 1960 Hollywood movie extravaganza “Exodus.”
Actually,the Arabian People that understand themselves today and since more than a century are there since the first conquest trough the Caliphate and therefore the only indigenous people left. And after the Crusaders were out of the middle east the land called Palestine had long times of peace,only shortly interrupted by the Ottoman takeover,which went surprisingly fast trough all Muslim Lands. This peace was ended with the colonization. The European Jews/Zionist that was given the land after,were for the people living there also nothing more than oppressors,like the British were. Some even organized terrorist groups like the Stern Gang and many other,which only goal was to massacre the there living people. Some of them even were later in the government of Israel.
But also I see many mistakes people wrote in other comments,like:
“The Europeans invaded and conquered North America and quite quickly created their own national state trying to collect all different individuals under one national consensus. It had never occurred with Muslims in the Land of Israel, although Muslims were the Majority and the occupied Jews in minority, for the last centuries”
The Europeans that invaded America never tried to have a state with diversity,it just happened and they SLOWLY accepted it. (See for example how slowly black people got their rights) Under Islamic Rule it was different. Islamic Rule says to accept everyone mentionless of their race,origin or whatever. Religious Groups were protected and under ottoman rule,for example,jews and christians had the right to live in little communities and that BY THEIR OWN RULES. Islamic empires were since ever nations of many people (from Morocco to irak and later to todays pakistan) and had to get them all together.
Also: there is no thing as “Islamic Imperialism” the humiliating of other nations as it happens in imperialism is mentioned in several parts of the Quran as sinful.
Hi Nina, check out czech subtitles at:
https://github.com/ins-pirat-ion/This_Land_Is_Mine-subtitles
feel free to push them to vimeo and archive.org 😉
I’m deaf, is there a transcript for this???? I’d LOVE to have one!
Great stuff. You forgot the Persians. After Babylon, before Alexander. Cyrus the Great repatriated the talmudic jews from Babylon, providing troops and money to help them rebuild their temple and establish dominance in Palestine.
P.S. my now 2yo daughter loves Sita Sings the Blues! For awhile it was the only thing she would watch!
Thanks
@Chris: there’s no transcript: all you hear is Andy Williams singing the song (each character mouthing the same words) and some battle sounds.
Here are the lyrics
http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/andy_williams/the_exodus_song_this_land_is_mine.html
Christopher Hitchens was right:
“god Is Not Great–How Religion Poisons Everything”
Yes,small “g”.
You are brilliant and wonderful. Keep up the great work. You have new fans in Philly.
I’m a Israeli, and this makes me cry every time I watch it. I make a point of showing this to anyone I find intelligent because it depicts so accurately the way I feel. The Angel of Death at the end always catches me like a kick in the gut.
That aside, it’s spectacularly directed and timed, and I honestly consider it a spot-on, brilliant piece of work. Thank you for this.
The true touch of an artist is to be able to have a giggle (and a gentle tear) at Brutality and Genocide… I personally believe all those who’ve based thier world on the destruction of others, no matter WHAT thier ‘professed’ religion, are part of NO spiritual path and will NEVER transcend thier bodies to get to the good place after THIS life
But thats a little heavy and spiritual, so lets just say it looks like a ripping good film 😉
Namaste (Have turned lots of my friends onto ‘Sita sings..’)
G, London
PS The EARLY verses of the Koran profess peace and tolerance – the LATER ones seem to allow destruction of Infidels – the Chrisian book its the other way round – seems ALL the worlds Spiritual Paths, like philosophies, can be worked by a human mind into tools of healing or wounding – again PERSONALLY I belive those who use spiritual words to excuse murder and the destruction of others, will go to a terribly bad place…
I love it!
who care who was where and when?!
we all should live in peace 🙂
Seems like it’s been the Angel of Death’s land all along.
Some issues with this , first of all israelis do not use ak47 (more like m16) , second thing the origin of the hebrew tribe was from cannan so they are cannans. so jews inhabited this area well before muslims ever exited , also the israelis fought 7 armies at one time yet you enlist the arabs as palastenians ?
Just found your film ‘this land is mine’. It is absolutely brilliant! I am very happy to share it on facebook and twitter etc. It is a fabulous way of showing how ridiculous the idea of ‘my land’ is! Not only in the case of the Israelian/ Palestine tragedy, but in all the cases where people claim rights on whatever historical grounds…
I admire your work, and will from now on follow what you are doing.
Marijke Rawie, international documentary consultant
If the Palestinians lay down their arms, there will be peace. If the Israelis lay down their arms, there will be no Israel. Someone has to stop.
so nice and clean explanation.. in Ottoman and in any other countries, people who are wearing rich clothing and jewelry never fight.. mainly Ottoman soldier is Janissary.. smthg like
http://th00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/181/3/9/janissary_swordsman_by_huseyinsekerciler-d3kj56m.jpg
Your film was just postet on a german newspaper site at facebook and I was really excited about your work.
Having been involved in the excavations of Tel Michal and Arsuf, we much enjoy the depiction of layers of occupation, where Crusader ceramics are juxtaposed with WWII shell casing and mounds of Byzantine shards. Fun. A tad too gory for my students, but then clearly 11 year olds are not your target audience.
Looks like the JIDF had this in their sights.
This video has been misunderstood by most who have viewed it.
This is the story of our species, who canbnot share the planet and live with each other in peace.
We now have the ability to exterminate our species. The human species will eventually destroy itself. The planet will survive but we humans won’t.
Thank you Nina for being able to see outside the planet.
PS Everyone should view “Sita sings the blues”, please do. It is a sublime experience.
We humans are capable of so much beauty, what a tragedy.
Pretty cool except the last scene where you failed to show the wall and illustrated Palestinians with guns when they have sticks, rocks, and home made guns. Shows your bias pretty clearly
What a cynical, fantastic little piece. Nina, thank you for creating this! Sharing it right now 🙂
Does it really matter to see the history accuracy? we only know some facts by books, but nobody was there. My point is that no matter how came first, the last one will be Death. Shame of you who kill people in name of ‘god’
If you treat this piece as a nice piece about the absurdity of war then it is fine. I applaud it. However, if one (including the artist) wants to make it specifically about the nation (land) of Israel then it has major problems. Many of these have already been pointed out. My problem is a simplified reading of the Old Testament and the history and God it presents. And God is where one must begin when reading the OT since it is claiming to be a text inspired by God. God can do things that men cannot. He is moral when doing things or ordering things to do be done when men or not. He is in a different class than mankind. I won’t get into all the specifics but one must think more about what it means that God told the Israelites to conquer the land of Canaan.
One other thing is that war, fighting, and even killing are not always unjust. So again I think one needs to reflect more than just taking this piece too seriously.
What history shows in all parts of the world is that the stronger conquers the weak. Indigenous Native Americans were conquered by the Eureopeans. Inidgenous pre-colombine tribes in America (Mexico) were conquered by the Aztecs. Visigods were conquered by the Romans, after they had conquered someone else. Conquests and occupations have never been about justice. It would be interesting to know what Americans (from European descent) supporting the state of Israel would say if native Americans claimed to reoccupy their land (supposing there were enough of them), based on the premise of being the first to inhabit it. And what would their reaction be if, say, the Chinese decided to invade part of America and then grant native Americans some land and support them militarily and financially. (Very complicated subject, indeed.)
Soilo puedo decir, que me encanto tu animación