Apples & Oranges

Yesterday Other Israel screened three short films from our film festival. There were over 50 people at the SAJ who watched the films and participated in the discussion which I lead and Itzi came to save me when I made a mistake.

Films, I decided, are really Rorschach tests and what the viewer sees on the screen is interpreted wholly on the basis of that person's view point.

An Example. In one film their was no dialogue and no music. It showed a boy of about 17 or 18 olive skinned but could be Arab, Jewish, Israeli or really from anywhere. He leaves his house in the morning and picks a few oranges from his neighbor's tree - this done under the scrutinizing gaze of the neighbor who chops down the overhanging limb and then when the boy trespasses to take some oranges he chops down the tree. I won't tell you the end.

The SAJ audience varied widely- some of them thought both were Arabs (mostly because we knew from the titles that the film makers and actors were Arabs) but one man who I know for years and know to be very intelligent said that the film was an anti-Zionist film and that the neighbor was an Arab and the boy a Jew and that the Arab would rather cut down his tree than let the Jew have his oranges! There was nothing in the film to suggest any particular ethnic group. In fact, one can see the story to actually be about a metaphor for the modern conflict and the boy represents the Arabs and the neighbor is the Israeli government. When I suggested that just as Jewish film makers have made movies about Arabs for years - there is nothing to prevent Arab film makers to make movies about Jews! Everyone thought this idea uproariously funny. We all come to the table with preconceived notions that create an individualized screening experience. Arab, jew, zionist, anti-zionist... no one is more objective than the other. The key is to try to hear the other...

What do you think?