A Australian director Esther Takac's profoundly humanist documentary The Narrow Bridge brings together people who have lost loved ones in the decades long war between Israel and Palestine. Her main subjects Meytal, Bassam, Rami, and Bushra each lost a family member during the conflict. Meytal's father was hacked to death by Palestinian youths. Bushra's son was murdered by Israeli fighters. Rami's daughter was killed in a suicide bombing while getting schoolbooks. Bassam's daughter was shot outside her school. Coping with enormous trauma and pain, these survivors of unthinkable tragedy decided to reach across the Israeli/Palestinian divide to help create a grass roots peace movement based within the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families organisation.
Esther Takac's documentary filmed over a number of years (beginning in 2017) charts the immense bravery of her subjects and what they are willing to risk for change. With an ultra-right-wing government in Israel tensions are burning. For some of the participants even being in certain areas is illegal. Esther Takac, a trauma psychologist, earned the trust of the participants and lets them tell their stories. Facing opposition not only from each of their cultures but sometimes from friends and family, the participants' commitment to reconciliation and peace is inspiring and honours those they have lost in a beautifully hopeful way. Grief can galvanise people further into hate, but for Meytal, Bassam, Rami, and Bushra the process has meant coming to terms with devastating loss and working to achieve a peace that means no further families will suffer like they have. A crack of light has opened for them and letting the light shine in means that perhaps one day an enlightened society can emerge where people see each other as human beings, not enemies.