Louis Theroux travels to the West Bank to meet Israeli settlers living in the heart of one of the world’s most disputed territories. With unprecedented access to radical nationalists, devout religious families, and young pioneers, he explores the deep motivations behind the settlement movement — a movement seen by some as a divine mission and by others as a major obstacle to peace. Through candid interviews and tense moments, Theroux examines the impact of these communities on Palestinian lives, the broader Israeli society, and the fragile hopes for a two-state solution. Thought-provoking and immersive, The Settlers offers a rare window into a conflict that continues to shape the future of the Middle East.
Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastian Elcano set sail to gain control of the global spice trade, but end up becoming the first expedition to circumnavigate the earth. The yearslong voyage—along with the suffering, the violence and the loss of life and property—were all in pursuit of a shorter route to the so-called Spice Islands (now the Maluku Islands) and their much-coveted aromatics. The film puts in perspective the 16th century—the Age of Exploration, the Age of Discovery and the Age, problematically, of Colonialism. It also was an age of heroes. As the documentary insists, the journeys undertaken by the men whose names we learned in grade school and whose exploits straddled the 1400s and 1500s—including Ponce de Leon, Vasco da Gama, Lope de Aguirre and even Columbus—were about money, sometimes trade, sometimes plunder. But just as advances in medicine have often been propelled by war, knowledge about the world has been a byproduct of profit-seeking. Likewise, heroism.
Professor Robert Bartlett explores the impact of the Norman conquest of Britain and Ireland. Bartlett shows how William the Conqueror imposed a new aristocracy, savagely cut down opposition and built scores of castles and cathedrals to intimidate and control. He also commissioned the Domesday Book, the greatest national survey of England that had ever been attempted. England adapted to its new masters and both the language and culture were transformed as the Normans and the English intermarried. Bartlett shows how the political and cultural landscape of Scotland, Wales and Ireland were also forged by the Normans and argues that the Normans created the blueprint for colonialism in the modern world.
Through candid interviews and tense moments, Theroux examines the impact of these communities on Palestinian lives, the broader Israeli society, and the fragile hopes for a two-state solution. Thought-provoking and immersive, The Settlers offers a rare window into a conflict that continues to shape the future of the Middle East.