What a night! I checked the Italian restaurant off of my ethnic adventure list (it was right next to the theater) with a lovely bowl of cheese tortellini in chicken broth and nummy nummy bread.
I saw Promises, which made me cry at times. I really admired the filmmaker for getting to know kids on both sides of the Palestinian/Isreali conflict. For one thing, adults tend to think of kids in situations like these as abstract concepts, rather than real people with thoughts and feelings. For another, he is Jewish, and spent part of his growing up in Isreal, yet he was pretty even handed in his approach to the conflict. Both sides were shown in a sympathetic light, yet neither side was allowed to get off scott free. Children on both sides had lost friends to the fighting, and one Palestinian girl's father was imprisoned, without trial, for an indefinate period of time. The most moving part of the picture for me was when two Isreali brothers spend the day with a group of Palestinian children in a refugee camp in the occupied territories. The kids joke, play, wrestle, and eat together, and you could almost forget that they were anything other than a normal group of kids. The reminders that they aren't are jarring. The children look at walls adorned with anti-Isreali graffiti and bullet holes. There is a warning to speak in English, rather than Hebrew, so as not to stir up anger in the neighborhood while they are there. There are tears when two of the Palestinian boys recount the death of a friend and brother who had been shot to death by soldiers while throwing stones. One of the boys breaks down completely when he says that he has become friends with the visiting Isreali children, but that he knows that the checkpoints and other manifestations of hatred between the sides will prevent the friendship from continuing.
My only complaint with the film was that the focus was almost entirely on the boy children, without a great deal of perspective from the girls of either side. Otherwise, it was really amazing.
After the movie I walked across downtown to the Neilds' concert. Nerissa and Katryna gave a great show, as usual. I think I am going to have to pick up more of their CDs soon.
The show ended by 9:30, and I wasn't ready to go home yet, so I wandered over to the student union and hung out ing the Rathskellar, listening to a great Latin band, Cabaret Diosas. Lots of people were up front dancing the mambo, and two couples were an absolute joy to watch. I wanted to join them, but lack of a partner and sheer physical exhaustion from all the walking finally got to me, and sent me home.
I'd say it was a pretty good day.
