What's So Funny About 'The Encampments'?

The Encampments is a documentary following the events of the Columbia University encampment for the liberation of Palestine from April 2023 to Fall 2024. One of the key faces in the film is Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia who worked as lead negotiator for the students. Khalil is currently detained in Louisiana after being abducted from his home by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on March 8th.

Vocal reactions could be heard throughout the entirety of my viewing of The Encampments: Boos rang out when Eric Adams or Joe Biden appeared on screen, and “Free Mahmoud!” shouts were heard during scenes of former Columbia president Minouche Shafik’s congressional testament. A good amount of crowd reaction, however, was dedicated to people laughing.

At first, I understood: some moments were a little funny, if not completely ridiculous. To hear politicians incorrectly referring to the Intifada as an “infitada,” garnered a chuckle out of me. Where Intifada means revolution, “infitada” sounds like something you’d order off of the breakfast menu at a diner. But as the crowd laughter continued, a dull anger and sense of confusion began to settle in the pit of my stomach.

Folks laughed at a sound bite of Trump calling protesters animals. They also laughed at a clip of the New York Police Department (NYPD) deputy commissioner holding up a bike lock and referring to it as something “professionals bring to campuses and universities.” Knowing that these classifications were used to justify the NYPD’s raid of Hind’s Hall—a Columbia campus building that was occupied by student protestors on Apr. 30th, 2024—and the wrongful deportation of students across the country made these moments not laughable to me.

The frustration and disappointment I felt the night of the 30th as I scrolled through footage of officers storming into Hind’s Hall, clad in head-to-toe riot gear, never left me. Knowing Mahmoud Khalil, a legal citizen, has missed the birth of his child as he awaits updates on his deportation case in Louisiana, angers me. In holding these feelings, it felt almost impossible to find humor in these moments of the film. I felt shocked by the laughs I was hearing.

Laughter in the face of resistance and oppression is revolutionary in and of itself—I hold firm to that. But who is entitled to laughing at these situations? Is it us audience members, peacefully (passively) sitting in a theater, enjoying a movie? Sure, we may have been apart of or know people who took part in encampments built on college campuses across the country, and feel entitled to laugh at these moments because we actively fought against them. But, still, I ask: is this enough of a justification?

Laughing at moments like this can feel pacifying: we, the audience, get a moment to feel good about Knowing What’s Wrong and Doing The Thing (watching the film, laughing at stupid Trump quotes), and then continue on with our lives. As the viewing I attended came to a close, chants broke out to “Free Palestine!” and “Free Mahmoud!” But after exiting the theater everyone dispersed. The chants didn’t continue onto the streets. There wasn’t a follow-up action or discussion about how we could take action on helping fight against these wrongful deportations. As I’m writing this, I realize this is the kind of action I’d like to see prompted from films like this.

I don’t want the chants to die out as the final credits roll. I want us to feel propelled into action. If we, as viewers, are able to come together after a film like The Encampments and determine things ways we can to continue fighting for the liberation of Palestine, then maybe, in community, we can laugh about the craziness of the world around us—knowing we are working within our power to bring the craziness to an end. Even better, maybe we’ll find new things to laugh at: we’ll find joy in our ability to act collectively, to fight back, to strike fear in the hearts and pockets of our oppressors.

The meal: spicy mushroom risotto

Serves 4-6 | 45 mins

I ate a hot dog and popcorn quickly before seeing this film—I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and knew I needed the sustenance before diving into a film with content I knew would weigh heavy on my heart and brain. Nourishing ourselves allows us to nourish others—and become more intent listeners and viewers. That said, I won’t be having y’all eat hot dogs and popcorn for dinner. For this pairing, I offer a hearty and spicy mushroom risotto: something that will provide you sustenance and get you off your ass and into action.

This recipe is adapted from the Rice Select classic risotto recipe and this spicy risotto recipe by Nicola Turner

Ingredients

• 2 TB olive oil
• 2 TB butter
• 1 large shallot
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 hot red chili pepper (remove the seeds for less spice)
• 4 cups mushrooms (your pick - you can choose one or a variety.)
• salt
• pepper
• cayenne
• paprika
• 5 TB dry white wine
• 1 ½ cups rice
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• red chili flakes (optional)

Instructions

Start out by chopping your shallot, garlic, chili pepper, and mushrooms. Heat your chicken broth either on the stove or in the microwave. Add the olive oil and butter to a large saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the shallot and cook until fragrant and slightly translucent, about two minutes. Add the garlic and chili pepper and cook until fragrant, another two minutes. Next add the mushrooms and cook for an additional five minutes, stirring continuously. Season the mixture with salt, cayenne, and paprika to taste. Add in the rice and stir until fully incorporated into the mixture.

Add the wine and stir continuously until all the wine is absorbed. Add a scoop of hot both to the mixture and continue to stir constantly until the broth is mostly absorbed. Add more broth, a scoop at a time and stirring until mostly absorbed, until the rice is cooked through. Remove from heat.

Add the Parmesan to the dish and stir until its fully incorporated. Top with red chili flakes for a little extra kick.