Week 28: Promises

This week we started our unit on the Documentary "Promises", which takes place in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. Promises follows the lives of seven young Israeli and Palestinian children and gets their viewpoints on the current conflict on their turf. The movie is interesting because all the children seem to have taken some perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and they all are very well-informed on the subject, despite their young ages. The documentary gives great incite on the war, and covers both sides respectively. The seven children live within 20 minutes of each other, but different cultural backgrounds show drastic differences in opinions in each of the children.

Daniel and Yarko are two Israeli children that have been raised in a more secular surrounding, which as provided them with a more moderate standpoint on the Conflict. Yarko and Daniel don't hate Palestinians, and ask B.Z. several times if they can meet one because they've never had the opportunity. The two boys show little bias against any race of people, but rather would get to know someone before they judge him. This is apparent in their desire to meet Faraj, a Palestinian boy whom they want to befriend. Their parents, whom are non-practicing as well, decide to allow them to meet Faraj.

Faraj is from a refugee camp in the West Bank, and he supports the Hamas but is on the fence on his opinions of Israelis. At first, he views them only as the oppressor whom he must stand up against, but begins to show more sympathy after meeting Daniel and Yarko. The three boys connect and Faraj begins to realize that not all Israelis fall under the stereotype that he had perceived of them. However, he still strongly believes that he has the birthright to his grandmother's old property that she was forced out of during the British Mandate of Palestine. He has the oportunity to visit her old home with her, only to discover that it had been bombed by Israelis.

Moishe and Mahmoud represent the radical opinions of their parents, but from opposing sides. Moishe, who lives in the West Bank, firmly believes that the Israelis have absolute right to the land of Israel, and he shows an extreme disgust of Arabs. He states at one point in the film that he would annihilate every last Arab if he had the chance. Mahmoud is on the other side of the spectrum, a strong supporter of the Hamas, and believes that the Israelis have no right being in their land. Living in East Jerusalem, he is somewhat integrated with both sides. Neither boy has any interest in meeting the other, and both have very violent attitudes toward the other.

Shlomo is a Hasidic Jew that lives in Jerusalem, and grew up with very Western thinking because his father is from America. His practices are very traditional, but he shows an understanding towards the Arabs that Moishe does not share. Shlomo does not believe that the Palestinians are justified or right, but he can understand where they are coming from and has no violent feelings toward anyone.

Sanabel is a Palestinian who's father is curently in prison for being a journalist. She has justified bitter feelings against the Israelis but wants her father back more than anything.

The movie is very interesting because it shows so many different perspectives from such bright, young children. This next week I'd like read more up on the background of the conflict so I can better understand how it started and formulate my own opinion on it.

Sources:

Moishe. Photograph. Umass. Web. http://www.umass.edu/jewish/uploads/basicContentWidget/i_10744/02_Promises_Moishe.jpg.

Promises DVD Cover. Photograph. Fulvue Drive-in. Web. http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/cover/PROMISES.jpg.

Week 26/27: 30 Days

Over the past two weeks, we've been finishing up our 30 Days unit. After wrapping up "Off the Grid", where two city-dwellers were forced to spend a month in an eco-friendly environment, we moved on to "Out-sourcing." Christopher Jopin, who had recently lost is job to an Indian, spent thirty days in India, performing an "American's" work. It gave him a new perspective on the reality of life outside of America. After spending 30 days working the hours that an Indian man was forced to work, he realized how much he had taken life in America for granted. The majority of India is in poverty, so jobs are of higher necessity to stay alive in India than in America. Most Indians work at the same time Americans are awake, which is late at night in India because it's halfway across the globe.

Not only did Chris encounter these struggles, but he was faced with some of the horrors that Indians have to live with, like violent riots after the death of a politician. Chris's eyes were opened to the prejudice against women that many Indian men participate in. It was interesting to me that such a large transformation occurred when Chris came to the realization that these people weren't just stealing American jobs without putting any effort in. They are just as smart and hard-working as Americans, and they deserve jobs as much as any American citizen.

After "Outsourcing," "Immigration" provided probably one of the most stubborn participants on the show. Frank Jorge is a Cuban American who immigrated here legally with his parents during the Cuban Revolution. Frank is also a gun-toting Minuteman who strongly believes that no one that enters this country illegally should be granted any kind of rights while on U.S. soil. Frank was forced to spend 30 days with no identity, living with a family of illegals, and had to get a job as a day laborer with almost no pay.

If the 30 days were to have gone as Morgan planned, Frank would have undergone the biggest change out of any of the participants. However, Frank showed a lot of close-mindedness to changing his ways no matter what the family through at him. What surprised me most was that Frank even travelled to Mexico and saw what his host family had to live in back in Mexico, yet after the episode was released he showed strong discontent in how the episode made him appear to have a change in heart. Frank shows his disgusted in the episode fabrication here.

"Minimum Wage" followed Morgan and his fiancee Alex as they tried to survive on the bare essentials for 30 Days. They had to find minimum wage jobs, an apartment, and a way to work every morning. They seemed to have a good system worked out until other complications and obstacles were through into the mix. They almost go bankrupt when Morgan's niece and nephew come to visit, and he feels obligated to entertain them during their stay.

This is meant to emulate the difficulty of raising a child when caught up in poverty. They blow through half of the money that they worked so hard to earn to provide entertainment for the kids (a trip to the movies) as well as celebrating Alex's birthday. One thing they weren't paying attention to was that the buses don't run all night. Therefore, after Morgan's and Alex's night out, they are forced to call an expensive cab because they have no other way home.

When Alex is hospitalized for a urinary tract infection, Morgan has no other option but to take on a second job, one that involves a lot of manual labor. Much like a lot of people trying to make it on minimum wage, Morgan overworks himself and breaks his wrist, putting him out of work and leaving him with a huge hospital bill. After they tally up their complete list of bills, the two realize they've already sunk into 3 months of debt just from one month of living on minimum wage.

"Jail" place Morgan in a Henrico County minimum security prison for 30 days where he must spend the time acting and treated like an inmate. The main goal of this episode is to prove that prison isn't doing a very good job of rehabilitation or providing specific care for inmates suffering from withdrawal. Those inmates are on their own for the duration of their sentences, and many of the ones released will just wind up back in prison. Morgan set out to prove that prison was a harsh punishment for petty crimes, and his 3 days in solitary showed how dehumanizing such living conditions can be.

Sources:

Frank Jorge. Photograph. Blazing Monk. Web.< http://www.blazingmonk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/jorge.jpg>.

Jorge, Frank. "Thirty Days With Illegal Aliens—And A Fabricated Conversion." Letter. 18 July 2006. VDare. Web. <>.

Morgan Spurlock. Photograph. Top News. Web. <>.