Unit 12 -- Strawberry and Chocolate

As I have been unable to find a copy of Men with Guns, I was afraid to wait much longer before viewing a film for this unit. Therefore, I chose Strawberry and Chocolate. As the blog assignment for this unit was a biography, I have chosen to write the biography of the character David:

David Cruz, the newly appointed Director of the Cuban Arts Council in Miami, was born in Havana, Cuba, where his father served as a minor official in Castro's government. David was educated at the University of Havana and was a member of the student communist society. While pursuing his university studies, David met his mentor, Diego Pena, an artist who was instrumental in keeping the arts alive in Havana in the face of strict governmental controls. To honor their friendship, David continues the work begun by Diego as he works in Miami to promote Cuban artists of all genres.

Unit 10 -- A Dry White Season

The novel on which this film was based was an excellent read. It is never easy for a film to show every detail written into a novel, and this one is no exception. I wish the film had given more detail about Gordon's second son. The book tells us that he becomes involved with anti-apartheid activism just as his brother did. He took up the cause after Jonathan's death and carried it forward. In the film, we only catch a glimpse or two of this brother, and when we do, he is watching, wide-eyed, as events unfold. I believe it is important that the legacy of activism was passed from Jonathan to his brother, and that the brother carried on the work, making Jonathan's life have an even greater meaning.

Unit 11 -- Missing; The Official Story

Blog Query No. 2, a biography of Gabrielle, the little girl from The Official Story:

Gabrielle Marnet de Ibanez was introduced today as the new director of Save the Chilean Children, a non-profit group founded to work for the rights of Chilean orphans. Gaby was educated at St. Theresa's Academy for Girls and earned her Sociology degree at the University of Santiago. Children are a special concern for Gaby as she was adopted as an infant, when her birth parents lost their lives as political prisoners of the Pinochet regime. Gaby was later reunited with her biological grandmother, with whom she maintains a relationship today. Her parents are Alicia Marnet de Ibanez, and the late Roberto de Ibanez, also a victim of the Pinochet regime.

Unit 4 -- Raise the Red Lantern

For those of you who have not read my Group Discussion post, this unit is very personal to me because my husband is a 3rd generation Chinese American. He grew up in the Mississippi Delta about 50 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, as did his parents. One of the things I learned very quickly when asking questions about his family was that my husband really did not know very much about his ancestry as there was always some doubt about the real story of their coming to the US. Last semester, our daughter had to do a genealogy project for school, so we made a concerted effort to find out as much as we could. From questioning the older family members, one of whom was a Chinese "bought bride" and through reading the transcripts of a University of Southern Mississippi oral history project about he Delta Chinese, we were able to find out a few family facts.

My memory for dates is not what it used to be, but sometime before the turn of the 20th century, Chinese immigration to the US was completely outlawed. When the San Francisco fire happened and all of the documents were lost, the law allowed children of Chinese already in America to immigrate. In order to get into the US, many Chinese used forged documents and were called "paper sons", or sons on paper only. My husband's grandfather appears to have been one of these paper sons, and that is why the family has never talked much about the immigration. Grandfather made his way from San Francisco across the country to Chicago working in grocery stores. From Chicago, he traveled south to the Mississippi Delta and opened a small town grocery store where he ultimately raised his family and where most of them are still today. Most people would be surprised at how many Chinese families there are in the area from Memphis to Vicksburg, Mississippi. I will attempt to post a photograph that was sent to my husband's father a couple of months ago by a cousin who recently visited their village in China. The picture shows the village gate, but since I don't read Chinese, I cannot tell you what the writing says.

Unit 6 -- Zinat

Three scenes from Zinat that, to me, were revealing were:

(1) The conversation between Hamed and his mother in which the mother tells him how tired she is of doing all of the household work and how a dutiful daughter-in-law, like she had been when she married his father, would relieve her of those duties. I believe this scene brought out the true character of Hamed's mother. She was not really interested in Hamed's happiness, but in her own wish to have someone else take over as mistress of their home. She did not, however, want to give up control of the home. The remainder of the film reinforced my beliefs, showing the mother locking Zinat inside the family compound and lounging with her water pipe while Zinat did chores.

(2) The scene in which Zinat chooses to leave her home over the protestations of both Hamed and his mother in order to care for the seriously ill child of a village woman was a pivotal moment in this film. Zinat seemed to have lost an important part of herself when she tried her best to conform to traditional expectations. When she made up her mind to help this sick child, the spark came back into her countenance, and she recovered that piece of herself that had been missing. At that point, Zinat was her own woman, no matter what anyone else thought.

(3) I believe the last scene in this film was also a pivotal one. As the sick girl was being loaded on to a truck to be taken to the clinic, Hamed has to make a decision. He looks from Zinat to his mother, hesitates for just a moment as the truck begins to pull away, and then in a determined manner jumps onto the truck as it moves down the village lane. We see Hamed's mother standing in the lane growing smaller and smaller as the truck moves further and further away. I believe that Hamed saw his wife in a new light as he assisted her in helping to open the child's airway and realized that his future with a health visitor wife would be a good one.

Unit 9 -- Lumumba: What If?

I believe Patrice Lumumba's presidency of the Congo was doomed to failure, even without the behind-the-scenes workings of the Belgians and others. There is no doubt that Lumumba was a charismatic individual with an almost evangelistic way of stirring the people with his speech. However, Lumumba did not possess the skills necessary for the day-to-day administration of a country. The same fiery personality that gave him the ability to stir the people to demand freedom also gave him the inability to compromise when dealing with the Belgians or his African political rivals. This inability to use diplomacy when necessary tended to alienate Lumumba's rivals, and even some of his supporters.

The film Lumumba portrays Patrice Lumumba as a lonely figure who trusted very few people. He seemed to be getting by on his bluffing abilities. This lack of direction and empty talk would not have created a long-term successful government.

Unit 8 -- Hotel Rwanda

Philip Gourevitch's book We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with our Families is his attempt to explore and explain the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi people in Rwanda. Gourevitch is a staff writer for The New Yorker and has spent much time in Africa as a contributing reporter for a number of magazines, so he has a unique perspective of the Rwandan situation. His affection for Rwanda and its people is evident in this compelling work.

Gourevitch does an incredible job of blending narrative with survivor interviews so that the reader is exposed to the big picture as well as the personal details of each survivor's experience. His inclusion of a map of Rwanda and his vivid descriptions give the reader a vivid picture of the aftermath of the mass violence. Particularly poignant was Gourevitch's conversation with Joseph, his driver, in which the reporter asks Joseph whether the Rwandan people appreciate what a beautiful country they have. Joseph's response was a "soft hissing sound" and the reply that "The country is empty".

A general theme running through the stories of each survivor interviewed by Gourevitch is the amazement that he or she was spared. Laurent Nkongoli, in his interview, summed up the survivors' feelings when he stated that he was spared due to "Providence and also good neighbors".

Usually, I prefer to read a book before seeing the film about any event, but in this case, I am glad that I saw the movie first. When I read We Wish to Inform You..., I had already formed a mental picture of those involved, and the book took on an even greater meaning to me.

Unit 7 -- Paradise Now Petition for Removal

I do not agree with the petition to have Paradise Now removed as a nominee for an Academy Award, but not because I agree with its content. In the United States, we pride ourselves on the right to freedom of expression, and to limit the expressed views of the filmmakers would be wrong. I do, however, believe in the rights of the petitioners on both sides to submit their concerns.

Unit 5 - Indochine

I disagree with the assessment of Indochine by Panivong Norindr that the film "exerts a dangerous fascination precisely because it brings visual pleasure without questioning or subverting any preconceived ideas about French colonial rule in Southeast Asia." Perhaps the filmmaker's goal was not to question or to make some sort of political statement, but merely to shoot a fictional love story that happened to be set in French Colonial Indochina.