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For more than a century, leaders in the Middle East have fought for control of a small piece of land. The world has looked on, realizing the importance of peace in the Middle East. And the documentary The Human Factor offers a look at American participation in peace talks during the 1990s.
The Human Factor goes behind the scenes to explore years of the United States’ involvement in the peace negotiations in the Middle East. Starting in 1991, at the end of the Cold War, when the United States became the world’s one superpower, leaders and negotiators began gathering together with Israelis, Palestinians, and Syrians in an attempt to secure peace. After years of unrest, it wouldn’t be an easy task, but the team worked diligently to connect with the leaders, to earn their trust, to build relationships, and to find a compromise.
Told by the American negotiators who worked with the leaders and their people to try to come to a fair agreement, The Human Factor offers a fascinating look at the tensions and compromises and frustrations that go into international relations. It’s a precarious situation, often dependent on preferences and moods and election results—and these men share details of meetings that took place, often behind closed doors, to bring Middle Eastern leaders to an agreement.
The film focuses primarily on the Clinton years—when the President and his team worked with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, and occasionally the leaders of surrounding nations to establish peace. It details the meetings, the negotiations, and the tensions surrounding the talks, offering insights from the men who experienced it all as well as photographs and footage from the time.
But the film doesn’t just provide the details of the political process; it also offers a look at the personalities of those involved and even some anecdotes from throughout the process. These men recall the challenges and conditions involved in getting Rabin to shake Arafat’s hand and the irony of visiting Arafat’s office and finding his men watching The Golden Girls. As the men talk through the details of the negotiations, viewers get to know these leaders—to understand their relationships—and that sometimes makes for a surprisingly moving experience. Viewers will become invested in the process—and caught up in the emotions of these men as they recall Rabin’s assassination.
Now, years later, these men look back at their wins and losses, their frustrations, their biases, and their failures with hindsight. And the film provides a fascinating look at the peace that might have been.
The Human Factor is more than just a straightforward, black and white documentary about these political negotiations. It doesn’t shy away from the humanity of these critical talks—the personalities, the relationships, and the breakdowns—giving more insight into the talks and why the world is still left hoping for peace in the Middle East.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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