Free documentary on Israeli women soldiers; UPDATED with disclaimer

Check out Link Tv’s Doc Debut feature,where you can watch the entire one hour film,  To See if I am Smiling

Israel is the only country in the world where 18-year-old girls are drafted for compulsory military service. In the award-winning documentary To See If I Am Smiling, the frank testimonials of six female Israeli soldiers stationed in Gaza and the West Bank pack a powerful emotional punch. The young women revisit their tours of duty in the occupied territories with surprising honesty and strip bare stereotypes of gender differences in the military. The former soldiers share shocking moments of negligence, flippancy, immaturity and power-tripping as they describe atrocities they witnessed and participated in.

The psychological transformation that these young women underwent as a result of military service is both upsetting and riveting. The culture of war transforms people: personalities change, moral codes are subverted, values are supplanted and masks are constructed to dull the pain of what they did and didn’t do in uniform.

“A brave and powerful testimony to the corrosive effect of power.” – Silver Wolf Jury, Int’l Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam (IDFA)

Disclaimer: The above film apparently received funding from the Israeli government. Also, my original title indicated it was about Shministim, young people who refuse to serve in the army. This is about the experience of people who have served.