{"id":37176,"date":"2025-09-09T14:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T18:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=37176"},"modified":"2025-09-09T20:20:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:20:48","slug":"torn-film-review-by-greggwmorris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/torn-film-review-by-greggwmorris\/","title":{"rendered":"TORN Film Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-37224\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN-1-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN-1-300x240.jpg 300w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN-1-560x449.jpg 560w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN-1-260x208.jpg 260w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN-1-160x128.jpg 160w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN-1-768x615.jpg 768w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN-1.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>TORN has been described as &#8220;delving&#8221;\u00a0 into the heart of the controversy surrounding the &#8216;KIDNAPPED&#8217; poster campaign, which turned some streets in New York City into unexpected battlegrounds by pro-Israel and pro-Palestine activists. What started as a seemingly straightforward effort to that turned into a savvy strategy to raise awareness for the 251 hostages taken by Hamas October 7, erupted into an emotionally charged &#8216;paper war,&#8217; mirroring the complexities of a war thousands of miles away from the Big Apple.<\/p>\n<p>This reviewer believes audiences should prepare for a documentary film experience unlike any in recent memory. It is, in this writer-reviewer&#8217;s opinion, a wrenching extraordinary emotional adrenaline pumping investigation, exploration and examination<span data-huuid=\"12972649675930332953\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This reviewer anticipates that many viewers in audiences can expect to feel like they have been cinematically kidnapped, that is, becoming in a sense hijacked eyewitnesses who are actually on the scenes. For Clarification: This reviewer-writer is Pro-Palestinian and despises The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas, a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist political organization with a military wing \u2013 and definitely terroristic. This reviewer-writer is Pro-Israel and despises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the crimes against humanity and genocidal wounding, slaying, butchering innocent Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, this reviewer-writer is in awe that there aren&#8217;t reports of \u2013 at least none he has knowledge of thus far \u2013 of fistfights stemming from surfeit of scenes of poster-rippers&#8217; provocative <em>in-yer-face\u00a0<\/em>posturing and threatening and fingering.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Produced and Directed by Nim Shapira<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>www.torn-film.com<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>instagram: @torn_documentary<\/strong><br \/>\nTORN opened theatrically September\u202f5,\u202f2025 in NYC (Cinema Village) and NJ (Teaneck Cinemas) Los Angeles opening September\u202f12 \u2013 and then expanding to other cities later in September and October. A digital release (streaming\/VOD) is expected later in 2025<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PUbwi_fmiSQ?si=SPUt3nQC9CcSGTqJ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Critical Acclaim for TORN\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cNim Shapira\u2019s debut documentary manages to accomplish several complex tasks with minimal manipulation and without resorting to the repetitive imagery of horrors we\u2019ve already seen. First, it presents the story behind the creation of the \u2018KIDNAPPED\u2019 posters, which became one of the defining symbols of the war.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Second, it reveals how the act of hanging and tearing down posters across New York City became a political event in itself, escalating into a battle over public space and narrative control. Third, Shapira sits in front of the camera with activists and relatives of abducted families living abroad, exploring the tension between the desire to help and the helplessness of watching events unfold from afar in a sometimes hostile environment.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u2014 Oron Shamir, Haaretz<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOf all the films I saw at the festival, Torn stood out as the most urgent and raw in its depiction of the evolving relationship between Israelis, American Jews, and an increasingly diverse urban America\u2014marked by competing moments of solidarity and strain in the global conversation around the Gaza war.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u2014 Jacob Wirtschafter, Moment Magazine<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cTorn reflects on how public discourse often does injustice to the pain of all sides. It moves beyond Israel-Palestine, examining dialogue in the age of social media and cancel culture\u2014where the pursuit of values can end up undermining them.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>The film navigates this terrain without losing sight of the human pain at its core, ultimately posing\u2014at least visually\u2014the possibility of mutual recognition of both Israeli and Palestinian suffering.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u2014 Ofer Liebergall, Srita.net<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-37184\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN_August2025-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN_August2025-300x169.jpg 300w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN_August2025-560x315.jpg 560w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN_August2025-260x146.jpg 260w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN_August2025-160x90.jpg 160w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN_August2025-768x432.jpg 768w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pub-TORN_August2025.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"2\" width=\"70%\" \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Director\u2019s Statement Nim Shapira:<\/strong> As a filmmaker, I\u2019ve always believed in storytelling as a tool for bridging divides and provoking honest conversation. Torn began as an attempt to capture a moment when my home\u2014New York City, where I\u2019ve lived for the past 12 years\u2014was being pulled apart. Not just by headlines, but by the emotional aftershocks of a war taking place thousands of miles away.<\/p>\n<p>On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a brutal attack that sparked a devastating war in Gaza with Israel. In the days that followed, two street artists launched a campaign to raise awareness for the 251 hostages taken by Hamas. These weren\u2019t just Israelis \u2014 they were, and still are, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and Jews from over 40 nationalities. What began as an act of solidarity quickly spiraled into something far more layered: a symbolic \u201cpaper war\u201d that unfolded on the walls of New York.<\/p>\n<p>With Torn, I set out to document the winter of 2023 \u2014 those raw, disorienting weeks leading up to the first hostage release deal. During that time, the simple act of putting up or tearing down a poster became a political event, sparking confrontations across college campuses, neighborhoods, and social media. Suddenly, the war in Gaza wasn\u2019t distant \u2014 it was here, reflected on our lampposts, our subway stations, and in the heated arguments between strangers.<\/p>\n<p>I followed artists, activists, hostage family members, students, and ordinary New Yorkers as they wrestled with identity, grief, and the meaning of public space. My hope \u2014t hen and now \u2014 was that in New York, where we don\u2019t have rockets or missiles flying overhead, we might be able to sit and talk. That we could create space for conversation, even disagreement, without violence.<\/p>\n<p>This film doesn\u2019t shy away from discomfort or complexity. It dwells in the gray areas \u2014 between trauma and activism, doxxing and solidarity, freedom of speech and the boundaries of empathy. My aim was to humanize those caught in the emotional crossfire.<\/p>\n<p>At every screening I\u2019ve held over the past year, I\u2019ve used this film as a platform to call for an immediate end to the war\u2014and for the urgent release of the 50 hostages who remain in Gaza, still held by Hamas. That call will not stop.<\/p>\n<p>In an era defined by polarization, Torn is both a mirror and a spark: a reflection of how far we\u2019ve drifted apart, and an invitation to sit, reflect, and speak \u2014 even across disagreement.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7155\" style=\"width: 110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7155\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-7155\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/gwm-700x700-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"150\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7155\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>the WORD<\/strong><\/em> Editor Gregg W. Morris<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Clarification: The reviewer-writer of this movie that blows his mind is Pro-Palestinian and despises The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist political organization with a military wing for its October 7, 2023 attack and massacre of innocent Israelis.<br \/> &nbsp;<br \/>\nThis reviewer-writer is Pro-Israel but despises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his staunch elected supporters and right wing cabinet for the crimes against humanity and genocide perpetrated against Palestinians, who are dying and being slaughtered as this review is being written.<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/torn-film-review-by-greggwmorris\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":37184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2269,2301,2293],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2269","category-film-news-2025-2026","category-movies-movies-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37176"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37240,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37176\/revisions\/37240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}