“I am a very angry, optimistic woman,” says Israeli human rights lawyer Lea Tsemel toward the end of “Advocate,” a sober, engrossing documentary dedicated to her life and work. Her description isn’t a contradiction in terms, exactly, but it does highlight two traits that are rarely twinned, particularly to positive effect. It’s an apt pairing, however, both for Tsemel herself — after a career spent fighting the justice system with few outright victories to show for it, she retains a dogged faith in the possibility of change — and for the tough-minded, clear-eyed film that directors Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaïche have made in unsentimental thrall to her.
Following two cases that exemplify Tsemel’s dedication to defending Palestinians charged with terrorist acts, it’s a gripping procedural that intelligently expands into more searching questions over the Israel-Palestine divide and one woman’s precarious, often unpopular role as what...
Following two cases that exemplify Tsemel’s dedication to defending Palestinians charged with terrorist acts, it’s a gripping procedural that intelligently expands into more searching questions over the Israel-Palestine divide and one woman’s precarious, often unpopular role as what...
- 12/20/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The polarizing legal documentary Advocate has rightfully caused controversy within Israel and around the world, telling the story of Lea Tsemel, a Jewish-Israeli human rights lawyer who defends Palestinians who have committed real crimes. Although she’s thought of as the devil’s advocate, she persists, offering a defense of those who she views as political prisoners. In various interviews throughout the documentary she navigates her role in this as an Israeli, married to a left-leaning activist Michel Warschawski. In one tense exchange from the late 1990s she defends her clients, defiantly telling the interviewer that Israeli citizens are in no position to tell Palestinians how to react to their occupation.
The cases she takes on aren’t easy and in many the only victory is a lighter sentence. The political climate grows more heated as the film focuses upon the case of Ahmad, a 13-year-old with a knife who...
The cases she takes on aren’t easy and in many the only victory is a lighter sentence. The political climate grows more heated as the film focuses upon the case of Ahmad, a 13-year-old with a knife who...
- 11/20/2019
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
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