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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A short glimpse of hope in the final stage of a failed civilization.
Maybe the next one will do better, if there will be one.
This clip is something worth to be preserved for the day after.
(Although I really do hate musicals.)
I hadn’t read the description or title before seeing the movie, and I thought it was funny at first. Based on what you wrote, I think that was the intention. But as it becomes more and more obvious that it’s about Israel/Palestine, it feels darker and darker. Nina, I don’t say this lightly, but this video is a masterpiece. Assuming nobody finds any good reason to dispute the “factualness” of it (I haven’t read any so far, just a bunch of idiots arguing), this video is incredible. You take an extremely complicated situation, and boil down its criticism to a simple 3 minute cartoon, which connects strongly with the viewer.
I’ve seen posts asking for you to make another video about x, y and z wars/territories. Please don’t. What you have done was perfect, and doesn’t need to be adapted to any other thing. “Your art piece is done when you can’t take anything else away.” You has said in 3 minutes what people couldn’t say in a 300 page book. There’s no reason to rehash it. With that said, I really do hope you continue to make videos.
Great work by you…
Really one of a kind, very genius and fantastic!!
I assume there was no intention to exclude significant oppressors. However, if I were doing a similar list mine would include the determined extermination of the indigenous peoples of North and South America (including those native to our country).
Великолепное произведение! Смотрел Ñ Ð¾Ð³Ñ€Ð¾Ð¼Ð½Ñ‹Ð¼ удовольÑтвием, прекраÑÐ½Ð°Ñ Ñ€Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‚Ð°. Желаю уÑпехов.))
Sorry, I forgot to translate. Great product! I watched with great pleasure, great job. I wish you success.))
Great video indeed, just to mention that early man and Canaanite are the origin of Palestinians now days .
Until Death dies, this land will be his.
I love the last sentence.
Chapeau!
Wow – this message board is something else…
Great work Nina – a clear idea brilliantly executed
If you draw the zionists Jews as ultraortodox Jews, you show you know nothing about the topic. They were mostly disillusioned communists…
. I will give you a clue. They were not religious. Mostly.
This is a really stupid nitpick, but why does the Angel of Death have a tongue ? Isn’t he, like, a skeleton ?
Great video, though, tongue or no tongue 🙂
Pro Zionist organization are trying to get this beautiful movie blocked and deleted in Germany. They report any source for copyright infringement or even hate speech abusing the laws. This proactive history revisionism is truly sad.
I loved this video and it to my list (who also loved it). One person replied that she’d tried, but failed, to identify the singer in the video.
Can anyone help?
Thanks.
I believe the singer sounds like Andy Williams
Love it! A light and frank history of Palestine/Israel. Not much for either sides to argue although I am sure the zionists will start a campaign against this in the name of anti-semitism or something along those lines! The truth is the entire region are Semites! Peace and love people! Too many innocents dying in the name of claims to land.
Magnificent! Brilliant! Intelligent, sarcastic, creative! Definitely a 10!!
If it was up to me, I would move either the Israelis or the Palenstinians to the northeast corner of Texas and be done with it. I don’t need a f-king patch of dirt, rock, or temple wall to be connected to God, and I sure as hell ain’t gonna go tell someone else they have to do it that way. The height of human idiocy knows no bounds.
Great animation and graphics, and well worth sharing!!
Love the definition of the ‘State of Israel’ 🙂
I think a primary value of this cartoon is the effort to make a complex issue somewhat more comprehensible. Most people, probably not just westerners, can’t make heads or tails out of this territory on our planet and are confused about who has what rights!
This cartoon helps us understand that no one really has any proprietary rights to this land. And, of course, that would also apply to many regions and countries.
Similarly, there’s a reason why we Americans recently let American Indians carve out a deal, turning many into alcoholics, and whereby Native Indians now approximate the filthy rich vs. the filthy poor scenario on their own reservations–a scenario unfolding throughout the U.S. Just one more political and economic intervention which we did very poorly!
Dear ‘Musicfan’ – You’re bang on! See: http://youtu.be/QEYmomUuveU
Thanks!
Hi Nina,
What an awesome work you’ve done. The video and the information here is simply brilliant. I need to know if its fine with you if I use it in one of the events under The Zeitgeist Movement’s local chapter, which aims at a world without borders, money and dreams of a world that is free and just for everyone. Also, if you can provide a PDF or document of this page which explains nicely about the historial conflicts, it would be a great help. 🙂
Thanks,
Ronak R.
Great!May be last decades so called “oil wars” could be the next theme…
As an animated video – it’s fantastic! As an Israeli who lives is this fought-over region I sometimes have to admit… I don’t get it. It’s the smallest piece of land, it’s half desert and it’s not as impressive to visit like most places are.
I love Israel , but this place has been fought over for thousands of years. The cruelty this land has seen is unbelievable.
I do have some notes –
There was always a certain amount of Jews in “Palestine” even before WWII, and some of them tell tales of getting along great with native arabs (up to a certain point in time). Maybe that was because they had a common enemy (the Brits).
It should also be noted that Jews are not the only Jews who came here after WWII- a lot of them were and still are sephoradic Jews. The most famous “Zionists” were mostly secular and not at all “hassidic”. It should also be noted they didn’t come to Israel with an intent to kill in order to live here – the Independence War of ’48 was forces on by the young state.
BTW, these days hassidic and ultra orthodox Jews do not bother to serve in the army.
brilliant! loved this. im not really a history buff but this inspired me to look up the history of every one of these “civil”izations. the animations gave me great perspective. thanks for the post 🙂
Should be “Who’s Killing Whom”. Just sayin’.
Fun interpretation of Andy Williams’ certainty. Angel of Death secondary wing flap + tempo admired! Bravo.
Nina, you are a genius! This is perfect, dark and incisive yet funny with a bitter, Nina Paley-esque funniness.
“Patriotic Gore” by Professor Paley. “The past is never dead it’s not even past.” Nor is it objective; it’s just a story or song. Angry denunciations about lyrical irony, tribal feathers ruffled, wanton copyright infringement; all the effusive compliments for humor, animation, weaponry, glorious design, cartoon chutzpah, etc. All that fabulous craft!
No matter. I love it.
Here’s hoping those Canaanites, whom God directed the Israelites to slaughter, get their due in the long-form tale. Speaking of which: who was it told Adam, that original club-wielding nationalist, the land was his in the first place?
The Angel of Death reminded me of a passage from Walter Benjamin’s “On the Concepts of History” in which he refers to a painting of Paul Klee:
“This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing in from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such a violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.”
(cf. http://www.sfu.ca/~andrewf/CONCEPT2.html)
Hi Nina.
We met, some time ago, at FMX or some similar festival or another. I loved SITA and I love this. It is a great short. Have you thought about entering it in ASIFA-Hollywood’s Annie Awards (I am now president of ASIFA-Hollywood). It would cost some $$, I’m afraid, but boy I’d love for the judges and, if nominated, the entire voting membership to see this.
If entering this kind of thing is not your bag, how about doing a screening and Q & A, a la “An Evening with Nina Paley, when you next come to LA? ASIFA-Hollywood would set up the venue, sponsor, publicize, etc. etc.
Very best regards,
Frank
What an excellent and important film. Congratulations Nina! Love the designs, artwork and animation and love the content. I think your work is absolutely wonderful!
The Zionists were in Palestine long before the Holocaust. Most of them were secular, motivated by nationalism not by religion. Maybe Nina should change the appearance of the “European Jew/Zionist”.
And, according to the UN, both the Arabs and the Jews were supposed to have their independent nation-states in Mandatory Palestine.
Had the Arabs accepted the UN partition plan and had not started the war in 1947, their state would have been 64 y old today, side by side with Israel.
But why bother the activist-cartoonist with historical facts…
Nina, your work is always so amazing! You are such a gigantic inspiration and influence to me! This is put together so neatly that it flows beautifully and your art style is uniquely you.
Great great work.
Thanks from Italy
Marvelous. I can’t resist a good piece of dark humor. Good luck with this project. I am looking forward to seeing more of it (and copying it to share with my friends.)
Superb and very cleverly done…
It is a great idea to base your clip on a counterpoint between this forgotten and now rather ridiculous song, although beautifully sung and linked to the touching 1960 Zionist propaganda masterpiece Exodus, with childish historical images, both pleasant and carrying the full weight of a dreadful story.
Bravo !
Notionis
Great video, moving and funny at the same time. I didn’t even realize the “costumes” corresponded with reality until I read your pogrom guide, which makes it a thousand times more intelligent. Cannot believe some of these commenters, ignore the idiots. To get critical and serious about the uniforms and weapons…idiots have nothing better to think about I guess. Keep up the good work! I’m passing it along.
PS: i’m a friend of your relatives, Joani, Jared, Chris and Amy
Open your eyes EUROPE don’t u see what’s happening???
I would say Naive and Care Less!!!
Sorry…is it EUROPE??? Or The New United Arabs???
There’s no easy way to escape from it! U’ll All be Sorry!!!
Let’s just wait few more years…
Nina, I’m your fan. And I know a fair bit of history. That includes biblical history. But it wasn’t till I read the description of characters above that I could piece it all together. It just felt random and acrimonious. Some characters are quite similar, like the Assyrians and the Bayblonians, the Greek/Macedonians, the Macedonian/Greeks and the Romans, the Byzantines and the Crusaders. Not much else can be done about that, I guess, other than build the characters in the preceding scenes.
Other than that, I agree with the comments above drawing the distinction between religious Jews and Zionists. I guess you have an option here: you can either go (1) “oy vey, it’s a cartoon” and go with the popular notion that Zionists are religious Jews and religious Jews are Zionists; (2) or take the opportunity to educate your viewers on this point (there’s no shortage of visual references on what early Zionists living in kibutzim looked like).
Hmm, I hope we sit it out in Canada.
Greatest vid, of course! You’re genius, no, really.
I love it !
Well, of course, I wish there was nothing to inspire such a film ; but the way you syntesize and make obvious the irony and absurdity of wars, in an apparently joyful animated musical is amazing.
I can’t wait to see the rest of this masterpiece-to-be !
A faithful fan of all your works.
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конец прикольный (очень даже оптимиÑтичеÑкий) в принципе понравилоÑÑŒ
I clicked on the video on my friends video thinking it would be some Southpark clip. But to my surprise it was a un-biased masterpiece. I loved it and shared it with as many people as I could. Its on fire among my friends now.
Why there are no Persians? They should be between Babylon And Alexander the Great.
As a matter of fact the land of Israel is no different then any other land or state in the world. All of Europe is a story of invaders that killed their former inhabitants. The only and main difference is the the Jews were the native people of that land 2500 years before the current European nation were born and that Jews had never left their land through the last 3800 years.
Arab Palestinians have no connection to Canaanites but they are new invaders, mostly coming to the land in the last 150 years as reaction to the Jews returning movements prior to Zionism.
You missed the Mongols and Persians…
Zionism is the national political movement of the Jewish people and includes all political streams from the far left to the Orthodox Jews.