Friday, June 17, 2005
Another Road Home
Last night Jon and I went to see the documentary by director Danae Elon, "Another Road Home". Both poignant and sad, it shows the human condition in all it's flaws, only to be redeemed by genuine and unexpected love. Danae Elon was born in Jerusalem to the acclaimed Jewish journalist Amos Elon. At eleven months old, a Palestinian man named "Moussa" came to Elon's door and asked for work. From that day on, for 20 years, Moussa became Danae's nanny, confidant, second father. Another Road Home follows Danae's search for Moussa after 10 years of separation and brings to the surface the true human complexity that now exists between Palestinians and Israelies beyond the politics. This film only reemphasized to me the poor and inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli army. That said, I suppose that I should state I am neither pro-Palestinian nor pro-Israeli. It think they're both wrong, I think they both have rights and reasons. I think it's such a complicated situation with so many intricacies and arguments that the debates as they have, could go on for decades.
This is why I really have a problem with organized religion. It causes so many conflicts. It was never intended to spawn wars and death. It was started as a man made institution to answer questions that we as mortals cannot answer ourselves and to give humans guidelines to live by, to be good people. Religion really irks me at times and at others, I can see the beauty in it. Usually I only see the beauty when it is in the unity of humans through belief. It's such a paradox. Religion, something that can unite people so tightly, can also make humans fight so recklessly with each other.
Last night after the movie I was online a bit and found myself somehow on "Belief Net". I took their 20 question quiz to see what religion is best suited to my beliefs. While not for entertainment, I do feel there are some holes in their evaluation process. To my surprise, I scored a 100% match for Neo-Peagan, Liberal Quaker and New-age. Shortly after that was Secular Humanistic Jew, which is what I really view myself as.
Judaism is very amazing. It's an amazing phenomenon. I have been both accepted into it with open arms and love and at the same time made to feel very judged.
Well, as often, I am going off on a tangent. My point is, the movie showed an important view into the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that everyone should see. It humanizes things and sometimes we as humans don't seem to act humanized enough.
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3 comments:
I really wish we had a theater around us that showed documentaries and small-production, independent films. We're just stuck with Tinseltown with its 30 screens, or something obnoxious like that. So, I haven't been to a movie in AGES. Seriously, I think the last movie I saw in a theater (not counting Nemo and Tigger Movie and Jonah - that was child-driven) was probably in 1991 before I got married. How sad is that?
This was the first movie we saw in a theater year and a half - or since before we got married. The last time we went to a movie was for "Lost in Translation" when we lived in SF. Part of the problem is that a lot of what is available just hasn't made us want to pay the nine bucks.
What?! Nine dollars!? I think I'll take my small town theatres over an Imax or Star any day. You can go to our historic theatre downtown for $4.50 for a matinee or $6.50 for a regular show. We even have something that has become a relic of the past--a drive in! :)
Oh, the last movie Ben & I saw was Monster-in-Law courtesy of a gift card I got for my birthday.
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