The Children of October 7

What an important and wonderful documentary, sad and heartfelt, but ABSOLUTELY ruined by a half-witted woman with the most ridiculous questions ever: 'Do you miss your father?' and 'How did you feel when the terrorists came into your house?'), completely plastered in enough make-up to cover 3 elephants, jewellery to fill a entire shop, gold sunglesses, false plastic nails that you can clearly see she doesn't want anyone touching, her chest half exposed, and a wardrobe change in every scene. Who would ever dare to dress like that on a visit to such a war-torn area? - She's an insult to humanity.

I wish I didn't need to write a review for such a sad and important movie. In these times of lies and misinformation, it's crucial that people unconnected to the conflict get a chance to watch the accounts of those children who survived the attack on Oct 7th. Watch this movie to bear witness to the reality of terror and listen to the firsthand words of those children who survived.

Like the Holocaust, there are times in history where we want to look away- the pain and horror is too great, but the only way to honour the memories of those innocent lives taken is to see and hear with our own eyes. This movie, created by Montana Tucker, is a first person account that sears your heart, but leaves you with the knowledge and truth of what happened on Oct 7th. Evil made its way into the life of children and it's our duty to watch and share their stories with the world.

No one can deny the horror those children experienced, the fear, the absolute terror that unfolded and the evil unleashed upon them.

Their testimonies are really honest and brutal. Although the questions were walled in a carefully curated to create the documentary's almost railroaded narrative.

The supporters would say that their story needed to be told and it did. But it was extremely odd to entirely exclude the history of the conflict and the possible reasons for the attack. It weaponised their genuine suffering to try and portray an innocence for one side of the conflict which is simply not there.

This documentary could have been great at showing the terrible atrocities, but was undermined by its lack of honesty about the framing which was almost jarring in its short comings.

This movie is a must see for all. To take the time to meet each child and discuss their pain is commendable. History must be recorded. These innocent children are completely traumatized and we are grateful Montana was able to sit and share their stories. What these children endured and experienced is unbelievable and to be able to share it for the world to hear is very brave. With the antisemitism rising in the world and the hate that is spewed it is more important now to watch this movie and hear the stories from the young innocent children. A must see - thank you Montana for doing this much needed documentary.

After watching I'm left with a very strange feeling. On one hand, I'm so impressed and horrified by the stories of these brave children and seeing how they, even while answering, are struggling to cope with their feelings. It's really heartbreaking and humbling to hear them talk about how their families were killed and what they decided to do in that moment to have a chance at living. It left me speechless for quite some time.

But on the other hand, while watching from 'documentary-technical' point of view, I was getting increasingly frustrated by how Tucker was interviewing these kids. I don't believe she has ever heard of the term 'open-ended question' and I felt the kids were not able to fully express their thoughts and feelings because of this.

It really seems like she first considered what she herself would do or feel in that situation (which is a good attempt at empathy, of course) but then formulates her own perspective as the question. This leads to very steering questions with sometimes even value judgment pouring through and makes me wonder if the answer is truthful or a bit pressured by the way of asking.

For instance, (I'm creating a fictional and extreme example here because I want to make clear what I'm talking about and I don't want to use the real answers here in the review) a girl could tell her "and then I remained in my hiding place until everybody left." Tucker would then empathize and maybe think that she would feel guilty about not actively helping her family escape, too. In itself a very valid reaction, but then (in my example scenario, she didn't actually say this literally) she would probably pose her follow-up question like this: "Didn't you feel guilty about not helping your family?" If you're a bit like me you can already feel that the formulation of this question is wrong on so many levels...

But on the other hand, her being a star and influencer and getting, it seems, a good rapport with these children is very valuable indeed. The children seem at ease talking to her and that is also a part of interviewing which she actually does very well.

In the end, I don't know if the connection/rapport compensates for the obvious lack of interviewing skills but it did leave me with an unsatisfying feeling from a more 'technical' point of view...