Torn is a film that takes a look at the grassroots campaign to raise awareness for the Israelis taken hostage in Gaza and the controversy that followed.

If you’re planning on watching Torn during its film festival run, please be advised that it contains scenes of hostage-taking, war, bombings, and civilian suffering.

If you’ve followed social media at any point since October 7, chances are likely that you’ve probably seen a number of videos featured in the film. You know the ones of people tearing down KIDNAPPED posters without any sense of decency or empathy. For what it’s worth, filmmaker Nim Shapira did reach out to interview people who tore posters down. Not surprisingly, they declined to be interviewed on camera. A few submitted statements for why they did what they did. Nina Mogilnik reads the statements in Torn and offers her own thoughts in response.

Almost as soon as they went up, the posters served as something of a proxy war. Pro-Israel supporters would put them up, pro-Palestinian supporters would tear them down. It isn’t just that the posters would be torn down but that the pro-Palestinian supporters did it without any empathy for Israelis being held hostage in Gaza. They viewed it as propaganda. Videos went viral on social media and there’s no telling just how many lost their jobs or got suspended from universities. It goes without saying that actions have consequences–it is nobody’s fault but their own.

Torn focuses on the proxy war taking place on the streets of New York and elsewhere. Why did activists put them up and why did they keep getting torn down? Dede Bandaid, Nitzan Mintz, and Tal Huber first designed the KIDNAPPED posters. What they didn’t expect would be for the posters to start going viral. They would soon begin popping up overseas in Berlin, London, Paris, etc. For Hostage Family member Liam Zeitchik, the posters meant the world to him to see that people cared about his family members. I’ve been wearing my BRING THEM HOME NOW necklace since February 2024 because it’s the least I can do to show that I care.

As Shapira comments in his statement, the film is “more than just the headlines or political talking points.” We see the impact that it has on family and friends of hostages. It’s personal for Liam Zeitchik, Alana Zeitchik, and Julia Simon. They know people who were taken hostage on October 7 and you feel for them. Nobody should be experiencing what they’re going through. The Zeitchiks had cousins taken hostage on October 7–two of them are still being held hostage. Simon had grown up with Omer Neutra. Seeing the KIDNAPPED posters made her “feel less alone.” Two months after film’s October premiere, it was confirmed that Omer Neutra had died on October 7.

With the poster war taking place in New York, NBC News White House Correspondent Peter Alexander questioned White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about demonstrators tearing them down. The press secretary later backtracked her initial comments because they were not great. You can watch the full press briefing with the particular exchange taking place 52:50 – 55:55.

Torn shows how the activists on each side would clash with each other. Some pro-Palestinian supporters began targeting a New York jewelry store because of the KIDNAPPED posters in front of the store. The harassment was so bad that police suggested that store owner Chen Levy remove the Magen David from the window. Her response:

“I refused because I said the day I have to remove the Star of David from my window–it’s the day I move from this country.”

There’s a moment in Torn where a protest is being held outside the residence of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. It’s a side of the UN Secretary-General that I don’t really read about in Israeli media. It wasn’t just that it surprised me to see him take a moment to address the protesters but in what he said:

“First of all, I want to say that I have enormous respect for your pain. If I was Prime Minister of Israel today, my main priority would be the release of the hostages.”

I don’t know if he said anything else after those comments because Torn quickly cuts to a montage of clips of bombings in Gaza. But that being said, he’s not wrong. Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu should have moved heaven and earth in getting hostages released. Obviously, one can’t ignore the role that Hamas played in all of this. Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as much before his departure that the world didn’t place enough pressure on Hamas. If they did, maybe there would have been different results.

Placing up KIDNAPPED posters shouldn’t be harmful to anyone! If anyone is taking them down, that says more about them than anything else. Maybe they should ask themselves who started the war and why the posters were put up in the first place? I’m sorry but none of this would have ever happened if Hamas didn’t breach the border. There will be a time and place–hopefully soon–to discuss the Israeli government and the IDF’s failings in an official state commission of inquiry.

If there’s something that’s been missing during the past nearly 17 months, it’s empathy. Torn clearly shows this, especially the lack of it from those tearing down posters. I see it play out on both sides. Hell, Alana Zeitchik displays more empathy than most people I’ve seen speaking out! When I see people talking demanding a ceasefire, more often than not, they completely ignore how Hamas started it by invading Israel and taking hostages in the first place. Look at the Chicago City Council passed a one-sided ceasefire resolution. That was the day that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson lost his chance of being re-elected.

Torn doesn’t set out to solve Middle East peace but if there is any hope left in this world, maybe the film will remind people about their lack of empathy. When all this is over, it begs the question of if there will ever be healing. I can’t answer that because I don’t know. It’s going to be really hard to forgive or forget those who turned their backs on Jewish lives after the most barbaric attack on Jews since the Holocaust. The people who really need to see the film won’t bother with seeing it because they don’t care about Jewish lives. I wish this weren’t true but it’s evident from nearly 17 months of antisemitism since October 7.

BRING THEM HOME NOW!

DIRECTOR: Nim Shapira
SCREENWRITERS: Nim Shapira, Shay Mizrahy
FEATURING: Liam Zeitchik, Alana Zeitchik, Dede Bandaid, Nitzan Mintz, Nina Mogilnik, Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, Julia Simon, Elisha Fine, Chen Levy, Aaron Terr

Torn holds its Southeast Premiere during the 2025 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Upcoming screenings include the Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema. Grade: 5/5

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