A Box and a Half of Hankies

Talk about your Six Hanky Special. Hanky Girl, you would have needed an entire box all by yourself. The backstory of the movie "Live and Become" is the Israeli airlift in the 1980s which took several thousand Falasha, the ancient Jews of Ethiopia, to Israel. The Ethiopian government would not allow the Israeli planes to land in their country, so the Falasha, mostly impoverished to start with, had to walk hundreds of miles into camps across the border in Sudan. Perhaps a third died on the way.

"Live and Become" tells the story of a Christian Ethiopian 9-year-old, who is living in the camp already when the trucks come to take the Falasha to the Israeli planes. At the same time, a Falasha boy of the same age dies in his mother's arms, and our hero's mother realizes this is her only chance to give her son a decent life. She forces him to go with the Falasha mother and pretend to be her son. "Live and become something," she says to him, "and then come back."

So you're down two hankies within the first five minutes. The boy grows up in Israel and we see the intolerance and racism of the religious Jews, who pretend to welcome their new black brothers, but in their hearts are repulsed by them as well as terrified that these newcomers are bringing AIDS and other diseases into their world. There is a remarkable scene when two boys, one our hero and one a Hasidic teenager, have to give speeches on the topic: "What Color Was Adam?" At least four hankies here.

All through the film the Falasha, who have endured being ostracized in Ethiopia for being Jewish, are ostracized again, this time for not being Jewish enough. Two more hankies.

And of course, our hero is only pretending to be Jewish, while in fact he is learning to be a better Jew than all the others, another hanky, and then he meets Sarah, and loses her and finds her and loses her and...well, half a pack more.

It's in French with subtitles. Plotnik and Ducknik took Mummy P. to see it, not knowing it was in French and Mummy P. can't see the subtitles. So Plottie sat next to her and whispered the dialogue in her ear. This is an interesting way to see a film -- you end up encapsulating everything since there's not enough time to translate every word.

It's worth hunting to find 'Live and Become' -- there was only one theater in Stiletto that was showing it, but it'll be rentable soon.
-----------

Someone told Plotnik that he only sees movies from other countries, but: What about Wall-E? That was one of the best experiences Plottie has had in a movie theater since he took Janet Weinstein to see A Pocketful of Miracles, and there were no side benefits this time. WHAT a great movie! In case you haven't seen it, Wall-E is two hankies worth at least, especially at the end.

But it's also true that Plot and Duck basically only go to really, really obscure foreign films, like Carmen in Kaelitsha, or El Violin. And unlike NotThat, they usually don't even buy popcorn. But not this time. Plottie bought a tub o' the stuff and he, Ducknik and Mummy P ate every kernel.
--------

Thanks for the invite, Cousin Seattle. As we know you know, our time in S-City is never plannable -- it always depends on how Mummy P. is feeling.