Six Days

A rich primer on the origins of the Middle East's enduring tumult, Ilan Ziv's intricate, propulsive explication of the 1967 Six Day War gives The Battle of Algiers a run for its money. Ziv exhibits archival bravado with his assembly of news footage, slick but unobtrusive reenactments and personal recollections (including those from colleagues of both Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol). He resists partisan scolding in favor of a rigorously balanced account of what became "a graveyard for dreams" of a unified secular Arab world. (Opens Fri; Quad.) --- Mark Holcomb