I saw this movie back in 2005 at the Dubai film festival, but I still remember walking away from it with a feeling of ambiguity about what-if-anything the movie had said about the ethics of suicide bombing.
What did you guys take from the movie regarding terrorism?
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I would say the author's representative in the film was the young woman - in favour of resistance but not terrorism, and certainly not of suicide bombing. But the film is more an examination than a prescription.
I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.
It's been so long ago that I forgot that character.
I remember best the scene when he catches the bus, looks around, and he starts seeing the Jews as human.
The mind and heart of a suicide bomber is still quite a mystery to me... as I suspect it is to many people.
I've tried to read everything I've encountered on the subject and surprisingly little is written. This movies is one of the better things I've seen. Another good one is an episode of "This American Life" where they interview a failed suicide bomber.
As I remember it, in her case, the handlers quickly exploited her feeling of despair. I forget why she failed but she is now sorry for what she tried to do and now sees the Jews as humans worthy of life.
(Not to get too political but...) it seems to me that Israel's apartheid wall project is ultimately going to backfire. In the short-term it surely brings them a sense of security to be separated from the Palestinians but the separation will surely make the Jews seem non-human to Palestinians and make it emotionally easier to recruit suicide bombers. I think this movie shows how that might happen.
I think if you want to assess the likely success of the wall you need to first assess the motive for building it. Is it purely a security measure? Or is it a land-grab? An attempt to create more "facts on the ground" and move the de facto border even further into the West Bank?
If it was just about security, it would have made more sense to build it 100m or so inside Israeli territory.
I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.
>>If it was just about security, it would have made more sense to build it 100m or so inside Israeli territory.
I can't really address that specific issue.
My main point was that wars -- not just in Palestine -- require that the enemy be dehumanized. (IMHO, anyway)
So, it seems to me that a wall is MORE likely to dehumanize the Palestinians and the Jews since the two groups are less likely to get to know each other.
SO, more dehumanization = less security.
T
"My main point was that wars -- not just in Palestine -- require that the enemy be dehumanized. (IMHO, anyway)"
You are very astute in pointing that out. Every government knows that humanizing the enemy will hinder war efforts. During the Vietnam War, lots of brave journalists brought back footage and photos of the havoc being brought upon civilians, and this humanization of the "enemy" propelled a massive anti-war campaign within the States. Now, after having been in Iraq and Afghanistan for over a decade, I have yet to see anything that humanizes the Iraqis and Afghanistanis (with the exception of the Iranian film Kandahar), and my guess is that the American government has a lot to do with that, given the incest between government and mainstream media, and the overlap in the "foundations" that fund political campaigns and the media.
Another point about the wall-20% of the population inside Israel is Arab (including Christians and Muslims). So you have Palestinians inside and outside the walls. Which side do the bombers come from?
It was unsettling. The idea that Palestinians have to live in such squalor was so disturbing to me that it is tempting to write it off as anti-Israeli propaganda, but when reports from the BBC, Reuters and now even the New York Times corroborate this outlook, I think immediately writing off reports of Palestinian suffering as propaganda is bordering on the paranoid.
shareI found this movie fascinating. I thought it was anti-terrorism and provided possible motivations for suicide bombers to do what they do. What I found fascinating was the deeply personal reasons for the planned actions. Much of it had little to do (from my reading) with religion and more to do with social-cultural pressures and manipulation of two young men. I thought this film was superb.
shareSince I don't understand the mind of suicide bombers, I really don't know if you're right or not.
My guess is that religion plays an important role in recruiting the suicide bombers -- the promise of paradise, anyway. But, surely, it is far more complex than just religion. I have lots of Muslim friends and many of them say that their religion actually bans suicide bombing.
But, clearly, suicide bombing is a political tool of those who send the bombers to their (and others) deaths.
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Its the Zionists that are the terrorists! They use Apache helicopters, their tanks, their torture methods, their stealing of Arab land, and their killing of 30 Palestinians for every Zionists that is killed. Thats terrorism!
What the Palestinians are doing is a result of Israels actions!
How can the occupiers be the victims?!?!?!?!?!?
I'll never apologize for the United States. Ever. I don't care what the facts are-George H. W. Bush
I think I may be the last person on earth who is still neutral about this conflict. I see victims and victimizers on both sides. I think many people are both!
But that's not the issue I raised.
What is the perspective of this movie on the morality and virture of terrorism? Was it neutral? Pro? Con? Ambivalent? I couldn't tell.
I think the director's intention was to force people to look at the issue from a different perspective, which, at least with this message board, he seems to have achieved. As far as his personal convictions go, at the very end of the film there is white, which I assume to be the explosion; and then there is black, no imagery to allude to heaven or hell, just nothingness.
shareThat's a good point I hadn't forgotten about. Your interpretation seems about right.
shareI think the woman's point of view reflects the opinion of the director. Your suicide won't stop Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights, its so futile and violence only begets more violence.
At least you'll never be a vegetable - even artichokes have hearts!
I think that more than anything the movie is trying to make a point that suicide bombers really aren't as foreign and distant as we always see them in the media.
The thing is that these people have been brainwashed by someone into believing they are pleasing God while really satisfying their leader's political agenda. Notice how the "head man", who seemed so dedicated, never comitted the suicide himself, he just recruited other people and then convinced them that they were doing justice.
In addition, it seemed that both these men had personal issues in their lives and felt trapped. They were hopeless and somehow got the idea that this deed was the way out.
The movie is not about condemming og praising terrorism. It explores the life of palestinians, and tries to explain why some people will go and do something so horrible.
share