The movie was both very informative but also very frustrating for me. I still fail to understand each sides stance on the conflict. To me the Palestinian's seem very defensive and the Israeli's seem very aggressive, wether right or wrong on either side thats how it appears to me. Both on a large scale and a smaller scale. The movie deals with two families who have fallen victim to a suicide bombing. The Palestinian families daughter was the bomber and the Israeli families daughter was the victim. I think it describes very well the differences in thought that each side has. By describing in detail from such a small scale it shows the magnitude of the larger scale. I think the Palestinian family seems to defend her daughter, especially when the father says dying like that is an honorable way to go because everyone is going to die sometime anyway.
I sympathize more with the Israeli mother, but more with the Palestinian people. I try to understand how the Palestinians feel because they are being occupied by force and it seems they do not live free in their own land. However, the violence they use in retaliation effects this one Israeli mother in such a way that I must sympathize with her. She was only going to the supermarket and that is no place to die. I understand that Israelis are using force in Palestine and that the Palestinians seem to have no choice but to use force back. It just seems that suicide bombing is a cowardly thing to do. Granted the occupation is nothing to be proud of either. I guess I don't really sympathize with either of them now.
I appreciate what Rachael's mother is trying to do, she sincerely wants to meet Ayat's parents to see how they really feel about the situation. If she can see how they speak to her she can understand if they truly knew what Ayat was planning. It seems to me that Rachael's mother has good intentions with speaking to the other mother but they turn it into an argument. The whole discussion was supposed to be about the bombing and they just want to talk about the occupation, like Rachael's mother planned the whole occupation. But Ayat actually did plan the bombing and thats all Rachael's mother wanted to know.
While watching the film I tend to feel like they use God as a scapegoat and that everything is God's fault. I am Catholic and I don't feel that God truly makes you do anything, free will is a real concept. Rachael's mother was an individual effected by a bombing and Ayat's mother is an individual effected by the occupation. Neither one of them win in this situation.
don't you think, if you get kicked out of you home, and you live in a refuege camp for all your life, and while you in that camp, the same people that kicked you out, are at the camp, killing, arresting. how would you feel, you forgot in the middle of the movie that Rachel's mother was saying, that she hates Palestinians, and she doesn't like them, but you actually she has good intentions, i wounder towards what. girl who is engaged, will go blow herself up, for no reason, that doenst' make sense to me, i dont know if it does to you. we are resisting not fighting the Israelis, my nation just want to live, Palestine is dying to life and we witness this in Ayat's story.
ReplyDeleteok, let me tell you a story maybe you'll understand the situation!!
ReplyDeleteImagine that you have a big house with two small balconies. A group of armed thugs come and kill your parents, kick your brothers and sisters out of the house, then say: "we will be nice, and let you live in the balcony with your wife, and let your kids live in the other balcony"
you can't visit them and they can't visit you.
from time to time these thugs will come to one of the balconies and destroy something or kill sombody.
What would you feel if that happens to you? wouldn't you want to go kill these thugs.
Imagine these thugs die -lets say for natural causes- but their kids were born in the house, they say its theirs because they were born there, wouldn't your kids have a different oppenion?
Imagine this story in a bigger scale, that house is Palestine, and the family living in the balcony is the stranded palestinians in the west bank and gaza.