by CHRIS BARRY

Liz Nord is the director of Jericho’s Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land, a documentary that examines the rollickin’ Israeli punk scene and what it is to be a punk in a city (Tel Aviv) where everybody knows at least somebody who’s been blown to smithereens courtesy of their government’s, ahem, quarrel, with their Arab neighbours. Not surprisingly, war, intifada and all that collective nastiness has a way of shaping one’s outlook on the world, which again, perhaps not all that surprisingly, is reflected in the artistic output of the Israeli punk community. And while, having seen the movie, I can quite comfortably report that this sure ain’t no winning recipe for stellar rock ’n’ roll, it certainly has served as inspiration to a new generation of Mohawksporting Hebrew misfits—a crop of kids apparently overwhelmingly in favour of lifting the occupation and working towards making everything all hunky dory again with their Palestinian brethren on the other side of the great dividing wall. You know, back to the way it’s always been throughout history. We reached Ms. Nord at her home in San Francisco.

Mirror: What led you to do this movie?

Liz Nord: About eight years ago I was living in Boston and heard about this Israeli punk band, Useless ID, and I was floored because, like, Israeli punks, who knew? And when they came to the States I helped put on a show for them, and they stayed at my apartment, which is how I first learned there was some kind of scene over there. And when the current intifada started a few years after that, Israel was suddenly on the news every day. But it was from this limited perspective and I felt, especially because I had met people like Useless ID, that there was more to the story than your average American citizen was seeing on TV. And I felt compelled to tell that side of the story.

M:Were you surprised to discover that so many of these Israeli kids were so articulate—at least in comparison to their North American peers? They all had a pretty sophisticated worldview.

LN: Well, in a way I made this film to bust some stereotypes about what it means to be Israeli, but also to bust the stereotypes of the dumb punk rocker. These kids are really sharp.

M: I did notice, however, that many of the bands in your flick sounded disturbingly similar to Blink-182.

LN: Yes, well, their music is definitely not unique.

M: Did you actually become a fan of any of these bands’ music?

LN: Yeah, but probably more in the way you like your friends’ bands, more out of affection than genuine interest.

Occupational optimism

M: Do you think the attitudes and political positions these kids have are copped from their exposure to punk rock, or do you think they found punk rock via their already formed worldviews?

LN: Well, everybody in Israel is politically aware, you just can’t help it. It’s such a small country and there’s so much happening. It’s not like here, where it’s easy to go to the mall, ignore what’s going on and live your little life. In Israel that doesn’t happen because everybody knows somebody who’s been in the army, or they’ve been in the army themselves, or they know someone who’s been killed by a suicide bomber— everybody is involved, you just can’t help it. Even the most disaffected youth, they at least know what’s going on. Maybe their views became stronger once they got involved in the scene, but it’s not like here, where someone might start going to punk shows and then learn about leftie issues through song lyrics.

M: Outside of Retribution—one of the bands featured in your film— are there many other Israeli bands playing rock ’n’ roll coming from a distinctly right wing position?

LN: There are, but the underground scene is definitely more to the left. But I found that the whole scene in general—no matter whether they were left or right—is hopeful, which is not like mainstream Israel at all. Mainstream Israel, at this point, is really cynical. And the punks, maybe it’s because of their age, but they’re sort of like, “Hey, maybe we can work this out.”

Jericho’s Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land opens at Cinéma du Parc Friday, Oct. 7

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