Local Angel

This remarkable philosophical essay (the subtitle, 'Theological Political Fragments', gives a clue its concerns) comes with heavyweight endorsement from the likes of hip thinkers Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou, but stands alone as a genuinely fresh attempt to re-imagine the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Drawing its titular iconography from Walter Benjamin's Angel of History, it follows artist/film-maker Aloni as he journeys from New York to the Middle East and garners diverse opinions on the roots and future of the crisis. Underpinning his journey is a Kabbalistic awareness of the psycho-spiritual implications of the Temple Mount, while the quest to understand and relate to the Palestinian 'other' becomes at the same time a desire to shape a radically new Jewish identity. The sound/image collage weaves potent Palestinian HipHop, interviews with Arafat and Israeli peace activists, and footage from across the region into a compelling hymn to the febrile complexity of history, memory and experience.