Screens at the Bermuda International Film Festival on March 20 at 9 p.m. at the Little Theatre and on March 23 in the Tradewinds Auditorium at the BUEI at 6.30 p.m. It starts with an apparently simple statement of less than 30 words. But their consequences prove far-reaching and painful.Just Married begins by describing how Palestinians who marry Israelis have been barred from Israel. And this fly-on-the-wall documentary goes on to chart the impact this law change has had on two newlywed Arab women.The startling consequences are quickly laid bare at Kifah Massarwi’s wedding. Supposed to be the happiest moment of her life, the bride is seen grasping a bouquet of flowers surrounded by 200 family and friends.

One man is missing, however. Her husband, Yazeed, a Palestinian born in Gaza, is thousands of miles away living in Germany, unable to be with his wife in Israel even on their wedding day. Kifah, an Arab with Israeli citizenship, later says her tearful farewells to family in the Middle East before jetting back to her husband in Europe.

The new policy is shown to have an equally devastating impact on another recently married couple, Rabia and Sudah Shalalde. Her husband hails from Jerusalem and has Israeli ID, but she becomes an illegal resident facing possible deportation when she moves from Bethlehem to his home. Her tactics might be different to Kifah’s: she chooses to stay in the Middle East dodging border patrols, living like a hermit and sneaking visits to her family through gaps in the eight-metre high concrete wall swiftly enclosing Jerusalem. But the way everyday life is turned on its head because of the residence restrictions makes both situations disturbingly similar, and reflects the cruel reality facing thousands of couples in the Holy Land.

Freelance journalist Ayelet Bechar’s 70-minute subtitled documentary relies almost entirely on the two women to tell their stories — from marriage through to childbirth. This no-thrills, simplistic approach amplifies the film’s powerful message. Shot amid the dusty, barren, sprawling concrete mass of trouble-torn Jerusalem, her debut leaps beyond the horrific daily headlines and gives the Middle East crisis a human face.

Politicians, suicide bombers and tanks are pushed to the background as the consequences of the Citizenship Law on everyday families are thrust into the spotlight. In one of several powerful scenes strong-willed Kifah, who is told she risks losing her Israeli citizenship by having her child abroad, rails against the unwavering bureaucracy that is enforcing the law. But after watching these two personal and deeply poignant stories you are left with the overriding, and depressing, impression that such resistance is futile.The new law appears to be doing nothing to help bring peace to this troubled region. And this hard-hitting documentary shows it only seems to be placing greater strain on relationships the law appears to want to wash its hands of — sowing further seeds of hatred in an already bitterly divided part of the world.