Lessons to Learn, Questions to Ponder

The two films I watched over the weekend were both documentaries and screened here as part of the Melbourne Int'l Film Festival this year.

Iraq in Fragments was a movie in three parts - Mohammed of Baghdad, Sadr and the Kurds of the South. Mohammed of Baghdad is an 11 year old boy who works for a Sunni man as an apprentice. He has failed grade 1 three times and is repeating it again now. He knows only how to write his own name. He keeps dropping out of school so he can work. The segment ends showing him working at a new place - having given up school completely apparently - where he is very happy. In between running around working and getting into mischief, this boy listens to the passionate conversations of the adults around him - most of which claim that while Saddam Hussain gave them no freedom, Iraq was in a much better state then; now Baghdad is not a city with rivers and green trees - it's all red, red, red and bland and people are suffering much more because there are no jobs.

What stuck with me about this part of the film - Mohammed is asked by his school teacher what he wants to be when he grows up - a doctor, an engineer, a pilot? He says he wants to be a pilot cos then he can fly up, up where he can see birds flying and from where he can look at all the beautiful countries that exist; he says he will leave all the ugliness in Iraq behind and fly down into the most beautiful country he sees.

The second segment covers the story of a Shiite youth who is taking on a leadership position in his area. The third segment is about an elderly father and his very young teenage son who are kurdish. The boy talks of going to school and the plans he and his bestfriend has - of becoming a doctor. Later he has quit school and is working in the fields cos his father is too old to manage by himself and there are other siblings in the family to be supported.

What stuck with me about this part of the movie is the father says there has been too much blood spilt between the Kurds, the Sunni and the Shiite people in Iraq. The only way to have peace is to cut the country into three pieces.

Off camera, a little child questions his statement - "Iraq is a country. How can you cut it into pieces? With a saw?"

The second movie I watched was A Hero's Journey - a documentary narrated by Xanana Gusmao - the man behind the birth of the nation state of Timor Leste (translated as "East - where the sun rises"). This is by far the most beautiful movie I have ever watched - in terms of photography and content. It's extremely moving and I cried through many parts of the movie and after it, stood in line to talk to the producer (who was there) about getting the DVD cos it's a movie to be watched everytime one feels the weight of the world on one's shoulders.

In the movie, we are taken, by Gusmao, to the mountains in Timor Leste, covered in misty clouds, where he hid during his guerilla days, and he talks of trying to sleep there, his feet numb in the freezing conditions; he introduces us to an elderly lady who looked after him for almost a year when he had Malaria and wanted to die. He introduces and hugs the man who betrayed him to the Indonesian forces which led to Gusmao's arrest, charged with subversion, deprived of his defense & sentenced to life imprisonment. We're taken to the prison where he served 7 years before his release after the referendum. He talks to the villagers of a village where five men were taken to an open field by Indonesian forces and the villagers were forced at gun point to gather around - then relatives of the chosen five men, mostly fathers and brothers, were asked to shoot them. Afterwards, female relatives of the chosen five men were asked to stab the men just in case the shots hadn't killed them. The village name starts with "M" - I can't remember it now as I cried right thru this bit. There were many such inhuman massacres in East Timor leading upto the referendum and right after it. For more info on the 24-year conflict go to Gendercide Watch.

There is so much to this film that I can go on for days and days. Int'l release of the movie is being sought at the moment and I hope and pray all of you out there will get a chance to watch it too.

This is what is called inspiration. What stuck with me most about this movie - Gusmao takes us to his Presidential Palace - a bullet-pock-marked building that's falling apart - perhaps under all that it has witnessed.

Gusmao is very aware of the responsibility that weighs on his shoulders - but he is optimistic. He says cheerfully, "when you dream, dream big."

As a Sri Lankan, and with all the baggage that comes with it, these two movies made me realize just how young I am and yet how very very old.

Lessons to learn...and ...Questions to ponder...