Memorable quotation from Brick Lane (2007)

No one told me there are different kinds of love. The kind that starts deep (big) and slowly wears away; that seems you will never use it up and then one day it is finished. Then there is the kind you do not notice at first but which adds a little bit to itself every day like an oyster makes a pearl, grain by grain, a jewel from the sand. That is the kind I have come to know.

Run Lola Run

"Man... probably the most mysterious species on our planet. A mystery of unanswered questions. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? How do we know what we think we know? Why do we believe anything at all? Countless questions in search of an answer... an answer that will give rise to a new question... and the next answer will give rise to the next question and so on. But, in the end, isn't it always the same question? And always the same answer?"

Our life can be altered by 20 seconds, by people we meet, by sequence of events....This is what the movie is all about.

Prejudicial Questions & Reel Bad Arabs

Since I started to travel & living abroad, I was constantly been asked “nana questions!”, it took me some time not to be insulted & to find my way of answering in calm, logical tone & yes... showing respect to the other person ignorance.

I can't recall in this moment all sort of questions, what comes to my mind are:

• How come an Arabic lady can travel alone?
• Are you vegetarian because you are a Muslim?
• Why you are not wearing a veil?
• Do you dress like this or only because you are abroad? When you go back to your country are you going to dress differently?
• Why you have suicide-bombers who kill innocent Israelis?
• No way, you have Arabs who are Christians?
• How come you are educated?
• Do you have normal streets & buildings?
• Do you ride camels?
• How many wives your father has?
• We have Indian TV channels, it is not Arabic?
• Where is Palestine? Ah you mean Israel...

No wonder I would be approached with all these questions if Hollywood alone produced around 920 movie which portray degrading images of Arabs women & men. These movies did play a major role in formulating prejudicial attitudes toward Arabs, Arabic culture & civilization. They managed to rob an entire people of their humanity & portray them as terrorist, savage, & uncivilized. “Reel Bad Arabs How Hollywood Vilifies a People” reveals how Arabs have been portrayed and how Hollywood has played a major role in creating anti-Arab culture & Islamophobia around the world. I recommend reading the book or watching this 50 minute documentary.

Maybe if these movies stop this type of bad portray, people will start to learn & accept the cultural differences. This what actually happens when Europeans & Americans come to our side of the world; they enjoy being with us. Enjoy our hospitality, generosity, kindness, social ties, knowledge, sense of humor, etc.. They think dressing in Bedouin cloth & riding camels is cool. They fall in love with our nature; sea, mountains, valleys, and desert. They become curios to learn about the culture and civilization that is behind all these great monuments they see around.

Maybe, mabye ...

One day when I travel I could be engaged in discussions that will involve how Arabs came up with number "Zero", how valuable is our soap invention to humanity, what our contribution in Math, Medicine, Astronomy, etc...

14 Kilometers

14 kilometers is the distance that separates Africa from Europe , but these 14 kilometers is the last barrier that prevents millions of Africans from fulfilling their dreams & entitle them for a life without hunger and misery.

14 kilometers leaves you wondering how many of these immigrants disappear in the desert forever, sink in the sea, & how many when they reach Europe are distant for more suffering.

Cargo lorry overloaded with immigrants.

Chicken Ala Carte

We are so used to good food that we are not any more guilty of wasting it. How can we allow for people to die out of hunger in 21 century! Some pets around the world eat by far better food than those kids. How much waste/excess food there is after parties!

p.s. I am sure there is a lot of caring, considerate people but its not enough.

Baraka

I didn't read any review before picking the movie, so I spent the first minutes expecting to see an actor, a human voice, a narrative. Nothing came up; not in the first 10 minutes not in the last 96 minute. At the beginning, it was not easy for me to keep my concentration & focus.

It turned out that Baraka is a nonverbal film containing breathtaking images of 24 countries from 6 continents combined with an incredible sound tracks. I was restless to figure out where the shots were taken to the extent that I wanted to pause & google it on the spot. At the end of the DVD Fricke explains that it was intentional to leave the movie without narration or subtitle. "It's not where you are that's important, it's what's there."

At the end of the movie, I wanted to grab my bag and start traveling to India, China, Africa, Cambodia. There is a lot to learn about other cultures, religious, nature and the world over.

It doesn't say anything. But you will find a lot to say about it.

I will watch this movie again & again.

Children Of Heaven

We lose appreciation for a lot of things in life by taking them for granted. This is a simple movie about a lost shoes and how two Iranian siblings, Ali and Zahra make arrangements between themselves to share the remaining sneakers. The story glow of kindness and good-heart of poor people despite the financial difficulties of their day-to-day existence. The movie satisfies you emotionally by the goodness and calmness it disseminates.

Innocent Voices

"Innocent Voices" is a sharply detailed, moving film that tells a powerful human story and documents the horror of El Salvador's brutal, U.S.-funded civil war from 1980 – 1992.

The movie manages not to send explicit massages about USA role in El Salvador civil war or plays any political arguments; it simply depicts the struggle of those who suffered as it is happening. The movie is narrated through the eyes of a child Chava an eleven-year-old boy who takes on the role of the man of the house after his father abandons the family in the middle of the El Salvadorian civil war. I was really impressed of the performance of the lead actor incomparable with any other child actor I have seen before.

The movie is full of well captured emotions and moments of drama that stay in the memory and stir the feelings; moving smartly between brutality of war and the innocence of children in normal moment of life between friends and family. One of the scenes the left a footprint on me is when the boys were laying flat on the tin roofs of their homes hiding from the government military who wants to recruit them.

"Innocent Voices" is worth picking up.

Occupation 101: Voice of the Silenced Majority

I wanted to watch Occupation 101 for some time, finally tonight I managed.
Really I will recommend this movie to everyone one whether they are ignorant of this subject or not.



The movie tackles straight forward the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is occupation. It is one of the few movies that tells the story of the Palestinian side & starts right from the beginning of the the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880's, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, settlement expansion, the second Intifada (2000), and the Apartheid Wall. The film also details life under Israeli military rule, and the direct role of the United States in the conflict.

The credibility of the movie stems from some of the most credible Middle East scholars, historians, peace activists, and journalists, and humanitarian, including Noam Chomsky, Cindy & Craig Corrie, Jeff Halper, Amira Hass, Rashid Khalidi, Ilan Pappe, and others.

It is worth watching.
http://www.occupation101.com/about.html