Double Feature: 20 Days in Mariupol and Golda

Both of these deal with the trauma that war inflicts on entire nations and how that only sets the stage for more violence in the future. Both made me feel caught in a hopeless loop and make me worry that humans, despite all of our best and brightest beliefs in ourselves, just can't transcend our own penchant for villainy. Have I made you excited to watch them yet?

Movie: 20 Days in Mariupol

Running Time: 1:35

Nominated for: Documentary Feature

How I watched: Prime

When it had me: It's gripping

When it lost me: And sometimes you need to look away

What systems does it challenge: War

I watched this movie thinking, "No one should have to see any of this."

I watched this movie thinking, "Everyone should be required to watch every second of this."

I watched this movie thinking it was pretty much a carbon copy of the films about what was done to the people of Aleppo.

I watched this movie knowing next year I will have to watch pretty much a carbon copy of this film about what is currently being down to the people of Palestine.

When does evolution happen? When do we get better? When have we seen enough of babies being killed with bombs that we find some other way to handle our national traumas? Can we all take some MDMA together? Can we send every human being to space to get their overview effect? I'm so tired of this.

That being said, I'm in awe of the journalists who risk their lives to get evidence of war crimes and to prove the facts of conflict in the face of such egregious misinformation. I'm in awe of the doctors and nurses who stay until the end and keep fighting when no hope is left. I'm grateful to them. And I don't want any more of these movies.

 

Movie: Golda

Running Times: 1:40

Nominated for: Hair and Make Up

How I watched: Showtime

When it had me: I was mildly in at best

When it lost me: I drifted off at one point

What systems does it challenge: War?

I watched this movie with a wary mind and a heavy heart. I'm trying to understand Zionism and the violence that Israel is willing to inflict and what could ever possibly lead to peace in the region. Any time I try to delve into the politics of this area, all I find is trauma. And that's true in this film as well.

Golda says it herself, Israel is a traumatized nation. How can a people beset by trauma, a constant fear of their imminent destruction and a well earned mistrust of anyone and everyone possibly make sane and healthy decisions? And once Israel has dehumanized the Palestinian people and rained down absurd amounts of bombs on them in the aim of destroying terrorist tunnels underneath their hospitals, how can Palestine now be anything but another traumatized nation? 

And how does an entire nation get therapy? How does everyone learn safety and calm once again? How will it ever end?

In one scene, Golda speaks of her childhood. She was born in 1898 and leading Israel in the 70s. The time span of her life is startling to me. She remembered being hidden in a cellar by her father so that Russians wouldn't kill them. It colored her every perception and decision. Again, who can break the cycle?

It was a film that tried some inventive moments of story telling and for me it didn't quite pull them off. Mirren was great, as always but it was a pretty tepid watch for me overall.