Full Description
Opening with the loud crescendo of a fiery drum beat New York-based Israeli artist Udi Aloni takes us on a personal odyssey of discovery of the root causes and present contradictions of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Part intellectual pilgrimage, part surreal work of art in which poetry, music and images are intertwined. The heart of the film is Udi’s effort to understand the theological-political background he inherited from his mother, Shulamit Aloni, co-founder of the Israeli Civil Rights Movement, Education Minister in Yitzhak Rabin’s government and a leading peace activist. In January 2002 she and her son go to visit an old friend of hers, Palestinian human rights lawyer Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, who puts them in touch with Yassir Arafat. Udi interviews Arafat, his mother and other leading Israeli and Palestinian intellectuals on the subject of the religious and political dimensions of the conflict. The film is inter-cut with the works of artists; Israeli singer David Daor, the dancer Dikla and Palestinian rapper DAM, who perform bilingually in Arabic and Hebrew. The writings and ideas of Gershom Scholem and Walter Benjamin suffuse the piece wrapping it with a contemplative veil of “Angelus Novus” or the “Angel of History”. --Janis Plotkin
