Short Film Studies - Volume 6, Issue 2, 2016

This article addresses Cock Fight’s displacement of the Judaic metaphor of ‘sacrificial chicken’ onto the Palestinian, and its simultaneous reimagining of the Jew as a victimizing ‘cock’. Concurrently, it discusses the problematic implications of the film’s use of actual chickens as metaphors, which subverts its anti-exploitation political agenda.

Chauchesko is caught at the centre of a conflict that he attempts to defuse. This article demonstrates that he is often visually positioned between the two main characters (Shots 14, 16, 27, 29, 31, 50, 62, 88) as the situation escalates. His character provides an outsider’s perspective, and importantly an accompanying reflective tone, to this short narrative.

The entirety of Cock Fight takes place at a checkpoint – a physical and symbolic space where, by definition, identities are ‘checked’ and thereby established and articulated. The article argues that this cinematic location invites four distinct constructions of masculinity, while commenting on gender discourses in the pre-second intifada Israeli society.

This well-made, engaging film depicts the Israeli Palestinian conflict as a struggle between individuals, emphasizing the attitudes – stubbornness, pride, racism, machismo – that prevent peace-making. While illuminating key aspects of the situation, this psychological approach avoids the essential political dimensions, the all-too-real conflicts of interest, both material and moral.

Roadblocks represent great spatial restrictions for the West Bank population. This article explores how the film Cock Fight employs the cinematic tools of cinematography and mise-en-scène in the framing of characters and objects to metaphorically reflect and question the effect of these imposed constraints on human relations and spatial mobility.

Cock Fight explores what happens when Israelis lose the controlling power that comes with occupation of Palestinian territory. Its portrayal of the Israeli reaction to Palestinian power – naiveté, anger, helplessness, resignation – tracks general attitudes among Israeli Jews over time, anticipating in many ways the desire for complete separation from Palestinians.

The article analyzes the 1999 short film Cock Fight from a 2015 perspective. It argues that in the late 1990s its ending seemed pessimistic. However, in retrospect, with the total collapse of trust between Israelis and Palestinians, the way out of the encounter at the checkpoint looks almost desirable.

Israel is a contentious society with strong opinions on the left and on the right. This film portrays a tension within Israeli society about the importance of serving in the army. Could it possibly be worth dying for your country?

The article will show how, on the one hand, the tragic character of the father criticizes what Israel has become: a violent, militarist environment. On the other hand, his character traits raise the question as to whether he has an alternative to propose, thus leaving the viewers in a moral limbo.

Framed passages in Draft, such as doorways, mirrors and windows, function as barriers. They stress the unstable equilibrium between spaces and the deep senses of loneliness of the protagonists, thus underscoring both physical and emotional dimensions. In the past, painters also applied these strategies to infuse their art with layered meanings.

Drawing on the writings of Borgmann, Virilio and Lazzarato, this article comments on the prevalence of failure in Draft: the failure to communicate, the failure of technology, of perception, and arguably of war. Productive failure, I set out to demonstrate, is the key component of the film’s cultural critique.

From a visual point of view, Draft may be seen as a search for truth thanks to the use of the close-up. It enables the viewer to apprehend the father’s pain from within. As such, the close-up is about sharing emotions and not relying on the often-deceitful power of words.