Documenting an Israeli family's Oct. 7 story

The action-thriller approach in 'The Road Between Us' leaves much unsaid.

- ROBERT ABELE

Documentaries have, not surprisingly, become a hearts-and-minds front in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with filmmakers from all sides trying to get their stories out that bring into particular focus a destructive war's realities. And needless to say, in our current information ecosystem, context still means everything.

Canadian documentarian Barry Avrich may have believed that his new film “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” — detailing a retired Israeli Defense Force general's incredible effort to save his family from a besieged kibbutz during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 — was straightforward enough to avoid an uproar. But Avrich got one anyway when this year’s Toronto International Film Festival scheduled his film, then disinvited it (footage clearance rights were cited), only to put it back in the lineup after widespread criticism — and not just from Jewish groups. It went on to win the festival’s People’s Choice award.