Berlinale 2008 - 14 - Shahida, Brides of Allah
Shahida – Brides of Allah (Brides of Allah) by Natalie Assouline, Israel (Documentary - World Premiere). Assouline’s document of two years talking to five female Palestinian would-be suicide bombers currently residing in Israeli jails. [read more at emanuellevy.com]
Hands down, the most difficult film I saw at this year’s festival. Close-up views of the faces of evil - a failed kindergarten bomber, a woman who matter-of-factly describes being “covered with the blood of Jews and Martyrs” after driving a bomber to his successful detonation, a woman who says to her infant son, “Tell them you want to be a suicide bomber.”
They are all human beings, each with the emotions, problems, and joys we all experience. Except they seem incapable of self-reflection. Somehow, I cannot feel a connection with them, even in their suffering. It feels like they have made the decision to sever that human connection, to separate themselves forever from us, from anyone who is not exactly like them.
Listening to these women, hearing them teach their children, we cannot hope for an end. As one says, not even with the destruction of Israel will violent Jihad be over. As long as even one Muslim suffers, anywhere.
An essential film.
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