The real conflict is not about borders or territory; it is about mutual recognition and respect. Without acknowledging the humanity of the other side, there will be no peace.
~David Grossman
The Middle East Film Festival
This really happened. The most grotesque thing you could imagine (until the next thing, at least). This is indeed the TRUTH that Donald Trump posted this morning. He wasn't hacked, and it wasn't a hoax. In what more auspicious possible circumstance could I return to write the first post on this blog since I left things off nearly a year ago?
A introductory post about some of the actors and directors who will come into focus when I get to the heart of this difficult and often horrifying matter. Inevitably, some of these films ,and some of what I write will quickly feel outdated as events become ever more grim.
Purim falls on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Adar. It fell in late February in the year that I stayed in Jerusalem. There was a big fancy dress party, and then the day after was seemingly a fairly quiet one until my friend from down the corridor came to ask me if I'd heard the news about what had happened in Hebron.
The format here is very simple. I'm going to discuss three Israeli films- 'Lebanon', 'Waltz With Bashir' and 'Beaufort' - about the invasion and occupation of Lebanon. These three films were actually made remarkably close to each other in time. The chronology of the films' production is in reverse order of the moments in history that they describe.
Following the very strict rule of balancing as evenly as possible between the Arab and Israeli perspectives, those three films will be complemented by three Israeli films which present three stages of Israel's invasion of and eventual long-protracted withdrawal from Lebanon.
This film is set in Haifa, Israel's third city, which has always been thought of as one of the more normal places in Israel, as far as "normal" goes anyway in that country. It's more mixed and more secular than either the Greater Tel Aviv area (taken as a whole) or Jerusalem. Buses mostly run on Saturdays, and the admittedly not so large Arab minority lives relatively harmoniously next to the Jewish majority.