Change Your Image
ShulemDeen
Reviews
To Die in Jerusalem (2007)
It seems so simple; why can't two mothers just agree that violence doesn't solve anything?
**** Contains spoilers ****
This is a very powerful documentary. In the end the reasons for this ongoing conflict become clear: yes, Palestinians are living in misery under occupation, but their lust for armed resistance and revenge keeps them from allowing the situation to improve. The Israeli mother tried to make a very simple point: "we, the mothers should feel each other's pain, and work for ways to make the pain stop for future generations." She wasn't trying to justify the occupation, or Israel's transgressions. For all we know, she might be just as opposed to occupation as the Palestinian mother. But whatever their political agreements or disagreements may be, she wanted to get the Palestinian mother to agree to one thing: violence must end. And the Palestinian mother was unwilling to meet her on that, still claiming to the very end that it is worth keeping up the violence as long as the Palestinians' demands aren't satisfied.
It becomes clear that to the Palestinians, for all their (rightful) indignation towards Israeli oppression, alleviating their misery is not a high priority. For they could achieve that fairly easily by working honestly towards the solution of two countries living side by side in peace. But that is not their objective. Or, in their words, it is a "humiliating peace" (as if that's an excuse for killing). They want back the lands and fields tilled by their grandparents and great-grandparents. As if that will guarantee the good life. That is mere sentimentalist drivel. Life can be pleasant even if it isn't tilling your grandfather's fields and harvesting the same olive trees. In the end, what the Palestinians want is violence in the hope that would redeem their honor in this decade-long struggle. And that's all it's about at its core.
Kadosh (1999)
Sad and dishonest
The film is a gross misrepresentation of Orthodox lifestyle and practice. NEVER will a Jewish court enforce a divorce between childless couples. Although the concept exists in Jewish law, the conditions are too numerous for it to actually ever take place. Childless couples do find it difficult to cope with their childlessness in a community where children are a very important part of life, but nowhere are they "rejected" by their community as depicted in the film. They are treated with extreme sensitivity. In fact, many great Rabbis have lived their entire lives without children and never considered divorce.
The depiction of Yosef, a horrible human being, is meant to - perhaps subconsciously - show the behavior of a typical orthodox male. In reality, it is as typical as a violent drunkard rapist is typical of secular society. Both exist in their own worlds and both are despicable.
It is surprising that so many people form their opinions about a society based on a MOVIE (by someone who is personally biased against a community). I have always thought that it is only the Orthodox, because of their narrow-mindedness and insular lifestyle, who judge all secular people based on the violence and immoral conduct they read about in newspapers or see in the movies.