Thorold Dickinson's Hill 24 Doesn't Answer is a propaganda film about four doomed soldiers who give their lives in defensive of the eponymous hill so that it can be claimed as part of Israel following the Israeli-Arab war. I call it a propaganda film because it features two very important attributes that sets it apart from simple patriotism-themed films. First, the Arabs are portrayed either as faceless killers, uncouth brutes, or unsympathetic jerks. Dehumanizing the opposition is a crucial element of propaganda. Second, it features a bevy of characters from all different walks of life who rally together around a single cause: in this case the defense of Israel. The film's narrative preaches a message of self-sacrifice in the name of the Israeli nation. That would be all fine and good if it wasn't for the fact that some of the characters have back-stories that are so absurd that they can only exist within the world of propaganda. There's an Irish officer who joins the fight because he falls in love with a Jewish woman. Fair enough, but it doesn't explain his new-found, fanatical Zionism. An Israelite recounts how he met an ex-Nazi while on the battlefield, but the details of the story and the Nazi himself are so over-the-top that they seem more at home in a war bonds promotion circa World War Two than a serious war film. The only character narrative that really works is an American Jew who undergoes a crisis of faith after being wounded in a skirmish. His scenes, particularly those with a sympathetic rabbi who helps him rediscover his childhood faith, are the highlight of the film.
6/10
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