2 posts tagged “documentary”

longing is the core of mystery.
longing itself brings the cure.
the only rule is, suffer the pain.

your desire must be disciplined,
and what you want to happen
in time, sacrificed.

- rumi

I was out and about and decided to to check up on what was playing at the Lumiere which is only a block away from me. One of the posters that caught my eye was A Jihad for Love which is a documentary that chronicles the lives of various muslims who struggle to reconcile their faith and sexuality. The stories were powerful and heartbreaking in many instances. People have been forced to flee their countries because of persecution and end up in countries that don't want them and struggle to find acceptance somewhere. It's also a stark reminder of although in the west many homosexuals struggle with society they aren't pushed to the point they have to flee or go into hiding. We're still very far away from a truly open society where people are free to be themselves. The director and co-producer were also there to answer questions which was an added bonus.

The biggest struggle for many of the people the in the documentary is for them to come to terms with who they are because on the face of it Islam is quite explicit of how it perceives homosexuality. One of the people featured is an openly gay imam from south africa who has reconciled his faith and sexuality and has attempted to create a bridge between himself and standard conservative clergy. I think his views are received more easily by other followers than the established orthodoxy. The other big problem he faces is that his attempts to reinterpret the specific clauses that seem to indicate that homosexuality is a sin usually fall on deaf ears with other clergy preferring a much more literal interpretation.  The lines in particular that come up mostly have to do with sodom and gomarrah where it talks about male/male intercourse as a sin. Of course you can step back and say what was really the sin was the way the people behaved and not the act itself. I find it sad that it's so easy for people to cherry pick arguments like this for religious texts but often ignore other parts when it doesn't suit them. The very fact that most of the people interviewed had such deep faith was interesting especially since they never consider leaving Islam.

The director also talked about his most interesting case was of a woman named Marayam. He had spent 4 years trying to convince to speak her story. She seemed to be the most conflicted of all. She had been in an abusive marriage and constantly struggled with her feelings for women. Eventually she emailed him and said she was ready to speak in front of camera and introduce her girlfriend whom she had met in egypt. Even though they seem to be deeply in love Maryam kept commenting on how she wished she would be punished because she still sees herself as being a sinner. It really upset me that she is so tortured and the act of finding love brings her so much pain.

This is well worth watching and the directors comments about it raised some interesting perspectives. One of his comments was that the whole LGBT labeling may not apply equally in other cultures and is perhaps mostly a western construct where in other cultures there are more layers than that. I'm curious to find out more about what he really meant which means I'll have to do some research. His comment came after someone brought up Ahmedinjad's comments about there being no homosexuals in Iran. The director pointed out it was a misquote which actually meant  iranian homosexuals aren't like western homosexuals. This seems like a nonsensical statement but in the light of the cultural context both groups find themselves in there might be something to it. It's not easy to define and I'm struggling to find the distinction but that maybe because my perspective is wholly western.

the nobodies
fleas dream of buying themselves a dog, and nobodies dream of escaping poverty: that, one magical day, good luck will suddenly rain down on them - will rain down in buckets. But good luck doesn't rain down, yesterday, today, tomorrow or ever. good luck doesn't even fall in a fine drizzle, no matter how hard the nobodies summon it, even if their left hand is tickling, or if they begin the new day on their right foot, or start the new year with a change of brooms.

the nobodies: nobody's children, owners of nothing. The nobodies: the no-ones, the nobodied, running like rabbits, dying through life, screwed every which way.

who are not, but could be.
who don't speak languages, but dialects.
who don't have religions, but superstitions.
who don't create art, but handicrafts.
who don't have culture, but folklore.
who are not human beings, but human resources.
who do not have faces, but arms.
who do not have names, but numbers.
who do not appear in the history of the world, but in the crime reports of the local paper.
the nobodies, who are not worth the bullet that kills them.

-eduardo galeano

I managed to see God Grew Tired of Us today at the lumiere. I've been interested in Sudan because of what was going on in Darfur. The documentary chronicles the lives of 3 "lost boys" as they go from a refugee camp in Kenya to the US. The lost boys were more than twenty thousand young boys who fled the civil war in Sudan during the 80s. They basically walked to Kenya which was an amazing feat but many died along the way. They first went to Ethiopia but had to leave because of the conflict there. In Kenya they were housed in a large refugee camp. UNHCR provided basic education and food. They became a family and formed very tight bonds. Eventually countries like the US and Australia began to resettle some of the boys. I don't want to go through the details because it's worth seeing for yourself. There's a great deal to digest in watching the documentary. Some of the stuff is really emotional and if you're not moved by it I question your net worth as a human.

What I loved about the guys was their attitude coming to the US and starting a new life. They all worked really hard to better themselves and to help their friends and family in Africa. Their drive to educate themselves was amazing and their compassion for other people beautiful. Their perspective on American culture was honest and insightful. We're all so focused on trivialities we sometimes forget the opportunities presented to us. 

I was lucky that at the screening there were several lost boys and one who answered questions for 20 mins. They are working on projects to set up schools in Sudan and wells for drinking water. I'll definitely be giving money to help educate kids there.

Go see it and spend some time thinking about how lucky you really are. Then have think about if you're doing anything interesting with your life. Wake up.