I went to see ScaredSacred yesterday, and it was amazing. The Canadian filmmaker Velcrow Ripper (what a name) traveled to the world’s "ground zeros": Bhopal; Cambodia; Sarajevo; Palestine; Hiroshima; Afghanistan, and New York. In each place he documents stories of reconciliation, rebirth and hope. A theme of the film is the Buddhist practice of breathing in suffering and breathing out compassion.
It’s a very earnest film, but it is worth putting up with Velcrow’s personal spiritual quest just to witness the stories that never make it onto the 6 o’clock news.
Velcrow spent 5 years making the film – enough time to connect with the communities he visited. He profiles a couple of people in each place.
The stories that moved me the most were from members of the Bereaved Families Circle, people from Israel and Palestine who have lost loved ones in the conflict, who are creating peace and reconciliation. They have set up a toll-free hotline so people in Palestine or Israel can pick up the phone and be connected to a stranger on the other side. Such a simple idea, but so wonderful. Over 830,000 calls have been placed. They also have an amazing art exhibition, "Offering Reconciliation" and a combined youth summer camp.
Film fest documentaries can be so depressing - this year I decided: No documentaries about the oil crisis, or the evils of economic globalisation, no holocaust movies, no sweatshops. I know these things are bad, I don't need to be depressed by them right now. But ScaredSacred left me feeling that maybe there is hope for the planet.
Of course then I ruined the sacred aura that hung around after the movie by rushing off for an iskender before seeing The Wild Blue Yonder, and concluding that I was right in the first place: human suck. And laughing so hard I got a belly ache.
Posted by Fionnaigh at July 31, 2006 09:49 AM | TrackBack