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Content: Suitable for thinking teenagers and adults with an interest in world events.

Divine Intervention

(Palestine, 2002)

A bizarre, sad-and-funny movie from the country that doesn't exist—but whose people do—is an adequate expression of the paradoxes its residents have to live with. The cameras take us to the checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, as well as to Nazareth, to give us the snapshots of the absurdity of life there. We see, at the beginning of the movie, a Santa Claus losing his presents as he runs from several boys. Soon we learn he has been stabbed. We witness Arab-on-Arab violence, Israeli-on-Arab cruelty, Arab-on-Israeli defiance.

One poignant scene shows a triumph of beauty as a stunning Palestinian woman ostentatiously ignores the Israeli checkpoint unit and crosses over into Jerusalem. Flabbergasted, the soldiers don't try to stop her. These and other scenes don't always gel together, as if to reflect the chaos and irrationality of living where living is sometimes reduced to merely staying alive.

Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces

(Tunisia, 1990)

In Middle Eastern cultures, public baths are a ritual of community life. Young boys and girls accompany their mothers. When the boys reach a certain age—or when they display a different kind of "interest" in their fellow bathers—they are sent off to bathe with the men. Young Noura disguises his new awareness of women, not so much out of prurient interest but to remain within the gentle nurture of women. The men's baths are harsh places where masculine virtues and conversation rule. There he will have to fend for himself. When Noura begins eying a local beauty, however, he is banished to the men's baths.

Surprisingly, Halfaouine was a big success in Tunisia. In an interview at the Seattle Film Festival, F豩d Boughedir said, "People were so happy to see normal Arab life portrayed on the screen. This was a part of their life that doesn't get told." He noted that audiences included cosmopolitan world travelers and women in veils. Western audiences have little knowledge of everyday Arab life, which is surprisingly polite and hospitable. Halfaouine gives us a glimpse into that world.

Content: Some nudity. May be unsuitable for teens and younger. Parents should watch it on their own to decide.

Osama

(Afghanistan, 2003)

A mob of bhurka-clad women—widows who've lost their sons to the war—protest the Taliban rule that they may not leave their homes without an accompanying male relative. Desperate and on the verge of starvation, a mother gives her pre-pubescent daughter a boy's haircut and sends her to work in a shop. The terrified girl fears that the Taliban will murder her if they find out.

We see a wide range of Afghan people. Cold-blooded sociopaths of the Committee to Prevent Vice roam the streets looking for short beards and bare ankles. Common people risk their lives to provide such simple courtesies as a bicycle ride home for an unaccompanied woman.

This is a powerful, challenging, and deeply rewarding film. The reality of life under a murderous regime that claims to have God on its side, and the effects of that regime on simple people, is profoundly shown. With some guided discussion, this film may give teenagers a grasp of the issues of the current wars.

Content: Very strong themes of injustice to women and children. Suitable for older teenagers.

(For more on Osama, see my full review.)

Secret Ballot

(Iran, 2001)

A hilarious and absurdist study of democracy manages to both inspire hope and doubt about the way we establish the rule of the people. The setting—a peaceful desert island in the Persian Gulf with just a few residents in makeshift quarters—reminds us that indeed, every vote counts. The comedy also makes a mild feminist statement in that, to everyone's surprise, the election officer who arrives on an island to collect its few inhabitants' votes is a woman.

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