The Road Between Us The Ultimate Rescue: Tells A Simple, Horrifying Tale

By Chris Knight

Rating: A-

It’s a little odd that The Road Between Us caused such controversy in the run-up to its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

First invited, then disinvited for mysterious reasons (there were rumours Hamas hadn’t signed off on use of their live-streamed footage), and finally allowed a single showing with no parallel press screening. It went on the win the People’s Choice Documentary Award.

Well, of course it did. It’s a fine film, and quite possibly the least objectionable, least controversial movie one could conceivably make about the events of Oct. 7, 2023.

For anyone living off-world or under a rock, that was the day Hamas fighters streamed across the border between Israel and Gaza — heavily fortified but not very well guarded. as it turned out — killing more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 240 others.

The event touched off a war between the two groups that has all but levelled Gaza, and levelled accusations of genocide at Israel, which went far beyond an eye for an eye.

But that is all in the future from the perspective of this film, which tells the story of what happened to one family on that one terrible day.

Meet Amir Tibon, a journalist living in the Nahal Oz kibbutz, less than a kilometre from the Gaza border. When militants overran the kibbutz, he and his wife and two daughters took shelter in their safe room, which was soon plunged into sweltering darkness when the power failed.

Amir texted his father, retired Israeli Defence Forces General Noam Tibon, 85 kilometres away in Tel Aviv. Noam’s family nickname is 911 — the guy you call when something goes wrong. It’s fair to say nothing had ever gone this badly for the family before.

True to his moniker, Noam and his wife got in their Jeep and drove like hell to save their family.

Director Barry Avrich, a Canadian workhorse filmmaker — he has almost 60 directing credits in a span of just 30 years — could have gone in any number of directions to tell this story. He chose the straight and narrow, over a taut 95 minutes, and it works well.

Avrich recounts what happened that day with straightforward, chronological simplicity. He cuts between interviews with father and son (at least both survived) and a walk-through (and drive-through) by Noam, revisiting locations he visited the day.

What a path. Rushing toward the kibbutz, Noam and his wife came upon two survivors from the Nova music festival, which had been hard-hit by Hamas.

They picked them up and turned around to ferry them to safety, then headed back to the kibbutz — only to be again delayed by the necessity of taking wounded Israeli soldiers to hospital. All the while, intermittent texts from Amir painted a bleak picture of encroaching peril.

The Road Between Us neither demonizes nor sanctifies its participants. No one is called a “monster” or deemed “innocent.” Noam is just out to stop the people who want to kill his loved ones from killing his loved ones. You would do the same.

Some of the subjects do cast blame on the Israeli Defence Forces, though this film is hardly the first to point out that, on Oct. 7, hours passed without any sign of military reaction. To the people sheltering in place with little information from outside, it must have seemed as though the terrorists had already won. But Avrich will leave the geopolitical unpacking for another day.

There are also no recreations of events, though one could imagine a kick-ass fictional version of this tale, perhaps starring Liam Neeson if he can drag himself back from the world of comedy.

Instead, we get dashcam and army footage, and bodycam video that was live-streamed by the militants. Avrich thankfully cuts away from some of the bloodier images, showing just enough to educate and, if you have a heart, to enrage.

The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue. Directed by Barry Avrich. With Amir Tibon and Noah Tibon. In theatres October 3.