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House

Name: House
Director: Amos Gitai
Released: 1980
Duration: 51 min

Representation Score

4.4/10

Fair

1980

Director

Amos Gitai

Runtime

51 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Amos Gitai's documentary uses a single building in West Jerusalem to explore complex geopolitical histories. By treating the building as a main character, the film challenges simple national narratives through a fragmented, non-linear structure. The film excels in exploring post-colonialism and ethnic displacement. It presents a rich mix of Middle Eastern and North African identities, avoiding a single, uniform history. However, the film lacks representation for LGBTQ+ and disability communities. While it offers a nuanced look at domestic political tension, it does not explicitly focus on challenging traditional gender roles.

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Category Breakdown

Does House have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film does not include any LGBTQ+ characters or stories. It focuses on the historical and economic changes of a physical space.

How does House portray gender?

Fair

The movie looks at family conflicts and personal relationships within a home. It doesn't challenge traditional gender roles but shows the home as a place of political tension.

How racially and ethnically diverse is House?

Excellent

Gitai does a great job showing how the house was owned by Palestinians and then taken over by Jewish Algerians. This highlights the layers of ethnic identities in Israel.

How does House represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film criticizes nationalist institutions by focusing on themes of taking over and moving people around. It shows how different people see the same object through different beliefs.

Does House include disability representation?

Minimal

The film does not show any specific examples of physical or mental disabilities.

Present on Screen

Explores the complex layers of identity and post-colonial displacement.
Provides a sophisticated critique of traditional nationalist and Western institutions.
Uses a physical site effectively to represent changing ethnic and social identities.

Limited or Absent

Does not include any LGBTQ+ characters or stories.
Does not depict physical or mental disabilities.
Does not explicitly challenge traditional gender hierarchies.

Official Synopsis

House is the story of a house in West-Jerusalem: abandoned during the 1948 war by its owner, a Palestinian doctor; requisitioned by the Israeli government as "vacant'; rented to Jewish Algerian immigrants in 1956; purchased by a university professor who undertakes its transformation into a patrician villa... The building site is like a theatre in which the former inhabitants, the neighbours, the workers, the builder and the new owner all appear. Israeli television censured the film. "Gitai wants this house to be both a symbol and something very concrete; he wants it to become a character in a film. He achieves one of the most beautiful things a camera can register 'live', as it were; people who look at the same thing but see different things - and who are moved by that vision. In this crumbling shell of a house, real hallucinations begin to take shape. The film's central idea is simple and the film has simply the force of that idea, no more, no less."

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