White Walls Film Analysis

The lens of the eye is a conduit for transferring visual information to the brain, where meaning is applied to and derived from the various elements of an individual’s surroundings. Our intake of visual stimuli is not exclusive to the lenses of our eyes, rather, there can be other lenses placed in front of the eyes of the audience to facilitate a greater understanding of the human condition and how it varies from one person to another. In the film White Walls, the eye is seen not only as a component of the human body but as any means through which an individual can interpret the world. The recurring motif of the eye, both in the physical and mechanical form, depicts the changing perspective of the protagonist as she revisits aspects of her

As Shachar stands before her bathroom mirror and opens her eyes the same way the doctor did, she extracts contact lenses from her eyes. Through the corrective lenses that she acquired during adulthood, Shachar is able to see past objects as they are presented and exhibit a greater depth of understanding of how the world interacts with her, and how in turn she perceives the world. Now that her grandmother is gone, she must explore her identity without a guiding hand, and with a changed outlook she must take what she knows and mold it to fit an identity that she could not understand as a younger child. Using her camera, she is able to do exactly

Throughout a majority of the film, the camera focuses on Shachar and her interaction with the world around her, and even during her flashbacks her father and grandmother have a conversation in the background as the camera focuses on little Shachar gazing upon the photos on the wall. Unable to speak Arabic, young Shachar is unable to partake in the conversation, but this does not deter her from building a connection to her grandma. Although she is never able to gain a complete understanding of her grandmother’s experiences, she is able to extract meaning from the memories of her grandmother in her adulthood, and for that reason, she is able to come to terms with her position in the world as a Mizrahi