Louis Theroux: The Settlers (2025)
Louis Theroux: The Settlers (2025)
The West Bank settlement issue is one of the most contested and reported-on disputes of the modern era, and yet for many viewers the day-to-day reality of life inside those communities remains abstract, filtered through news headlines and political argument. Louis Theroux: The Settlers (2025) is a BBC documentary, produced by Mindhouse Productions and directed by Joshua Baker, that tries to close that distance. Running at a tight 62 minutes, it marks Theroux's return to the subject some 14 years after he first visited the occupied West Bank, and it arrives at a moment when the region is under more international scrutiny than at almost any point in recent memory. The timing, accidental or not, gives the film a particular weight.
Baker takes the directorial chair on a subject that demands both access and patience, two things Louis Theroux has built his entire career on. Theroux, of course, is one of British documentary television's most recognisable figures, a journalist whose method is less confrontational interrogator and more curious companion, a style that tends to lower defences in ways a more adversarial approach simply could not. Among the figures he speaks with here are Itamar Ben Gvir, a senior Israeli government minister and prominent advocate for the settler movement, as well as settler voices including Matan Cohen and Ari Abramowitz. On the Palestinian side, Issa Amro, a well-known activist and resident of Hebron, provides a counterpoint. The cast of subjects, if you can call them that, represents a genuine range of perspectives, and the film does not appear to have arrived with its conclusions already written. For fans of Theroux's work, it sits naturally alongside his other recent BBC documentaries, including Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere, where he applies the same calm, observational approach to a very different but equally polarising subculture. If you are interested in how documentary filmmakers handle access to contested or politically sensitive communities more broadly, it is also worth looking at Island Soldier and Salaam Cinema, both of which sit in a similar tradition of witness-bearing documentary work.
What the film sets out to do is straightforward, at least on paper: to show, rather than argue. Whether it succeeds in that, and what it costs the viewer to watch it do so, is really the question at the heart of any honest response to it.
Louis Theroux’s The Settlers (2016) isn’t easy to rate. n Not because it’s poorly made, but because its power lies precisely in how it unsettles you. As with his best work, Theroux doesn’t lecture or editorialize; he observes, listens, and lets contradictions speak for themselves. The documentary embeds itself among Israeli settlers in the West Bank (many of them religious nationalists who believe God granted them this land, which to me seems absurd as a rationalisation since anyone could counter that claim under the same premise) and captures their daily lives, convictions, and justifications with his trademark quiet persistence. It’s impeccably shot, thoughtfully structured, and deeply human in its approach, even when the humanity (or inhumanity) on display is difficult to reconcile with justice. Through interviews and fly-on-the-wall moments, Theroux reveals the machinery of occupation: land seizures, harassment of Palestinian neighbors, armed patrols, and a sense of divine entitlement that masks systemic displacement. He doesn’t need to condemn explicitly, the footage does that work. The imbalance of power, the casual cruelty, the erasure of Palestinian presence, it’s all there, rendered with chilling clarity. And yet, the film refuses to simplify. Some settlers express doubt; others double down. Palestinian voices are present, though necessarily limited by access, a quiet testament to the very barriers the film documents. It’s hard to “review” in stars. This isn’t entertainment. It’s testimony. And as such, The Settlers succeeds not as advocacy, but as witness. It doesn’t tell you what to think, but it makes it impossible to look away. For that alone, it’s essential viewing, even if it leaves you more troubled than resolved.
What I keep coming back to, days after watching it, is that 62-minute runtime. In lesser hands, a subject this loaded might have sprawled into a three-part series, padding out the complexity rather than trusting it. Baker and Theroux resist that, and the film is more honest for it. The gaps, the things left unsaid or simply inaccessible, feel like part of the point. I am not sure I would press play on it again in a hurry, not because it is poorly made, but for precisely the reasons mentioned above. Some films you recommend because they are a pleasure. Some you recommend because you think people ought to see them. This one sits firmly in the second category. Go in with your eyes open.
Rating: Not rated | Year: 2025 | Watched: 2026-02-23
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Louis Theroux: The Settlers (2025) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: BBC iPlayer
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Britbox Apple TV Channel · BritBox · BBC Select Apple Tv channel
Physical: Amazon US
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