The Politics of Film Reviewing
Re: "Rage and Laughter in the Holy Land" by Lance Goldenberg (June 4-10)
Why Elia Sulieman's Divine Intervention won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival is much less of a mystery to me than what movie Lance Goldenberg saw and reviewed.
The night I saw the movie, there were maybe only a dozen of us at the Tampa Theater. I thought, "what a loss." Yet it appears Goldenberg and I saw different films. Shame on the Tampa Theater for showing two versions without letting us know.
Goldenberg says, "There's a ridiculous and childlike aspect to everyone in the film, but while the movie's adult Palestinians are painted as endearing innocents, its Jewish [I assume he means Israeli?] characters are relegated to the role of spoiled, unlikable brats, at best."
Has Goldenberg never seen a Fellini flick? Has he waited for Godot? My take was that most of the "adult Palestinians" were portrayed as petty, spiteful people who would as readily crap on one another as drink a cold glass of water. The soldiers at the "infamous Israeli checkpoints" are shown as bored, tedious, sometimes cranky assholes; shall we ask the Witness For Peace volunteers who have been beaten by these good fellows how better to portray them?
If Goldenberg was "left … gasping in disbelief and disgust" as the surreal Palestinian ninja finally took out the Israeli commandos (after they emptied clip after clip from their weapons trying to kill her) he must have a weird sense of fair play. They are "terrorists" using crude weapons because they are not as well armed. Would he prefer we send $3-billion each year to arm the Palestinians as we do Israel in order to level the playing field? Would that remove any political bias from this artist's work? I doubt it.
To describe as "frankly cruel" the scene of a tossed apricot pit being able to blow up an Israeli tank that may not be occupied is to miss completely an absurdist sense of humor. Would he deny the frankly cruel outcome of anybody's tank in action? I don't think they shoot apricots out of that barrel.
To worry aloud as Goldenberg does that "certain audiences will be 'inspired' by his murderous fantasy sequence" captures the author's generally condescending point of view toward Palestinians as well as readers. If in fact one can remain suspended in midair while artfully dodging bullets that swirl around your head in the form of a halo of bullets, so to speak — well this is not such a bad thing to do, is it? Does Goldenberg see her as a real threat to Israelis? She spins a good twenty-five feet into the air while dodging all manner of bullets; she is, I suppose, a manifestation of whatever "divine intervention" a frustrated and rageful Palestinian might hope would manifest in this part of the world. Anything to break up the endless monotony of humiliation and agony in the current situation. I would be more worried that otherwise decent Israeli youth would take up the choreography depicted, as they empty clip after clip of their automatic weapons into targets of Muslim women.
How odd to make a movie about Palestinians and Israelis and be accused of making it political. I find Goldenberg's comments to be mildly condescending toward the director, when he is not outright disgusting in his prejudice. To be fair he might recuse himself from reviewing movies dealing with the Middle East. I will hope that Sulieman will make more movies and that people in Tampa will see them. Thank you Tampa Theater.
—Mike Judd
Tampa, FL
Saving Kids
Re: "Climbing Out of Hell" by Eric Snider (June 4-10)
Congratulations to Eric Snider for eloquently bringing to the public's attention the sad proliferance of adolescent suicide. Many of these youth need to be screened for depression, which is the greatest cause of suicide.
The Children's Board of Hillsborough County is very involved in programs that head off harm to self and others. We have developed locally several children's mental health services and supports that have been nationally recognized as best practices in the children's mental health field. Here are several examples of these practices:
Through the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, the Children's Board and the Tampa Hillsborough Integrated Network for Kids (THINK) have provided funding to expand the 2-1-1 Parent Helpline, which provides free and confidential information to parents as well as nontraditional crisis intervention services to help stabilize children in their homes, rather than hospitalizing or handcuffing them.
School-based support teams at 59 elementary, middle and high schools have been established to provide case management and flexible funding to meet the needs of troubled children and families. Started in 1992, these teams are funded jointly by the Children's Board of Hillsborough County and the Hillsborough County School Board.
The Children's Board funded more than $3-million this year alone through the THINK grant for intensive and innovative services to seriously emotionally disturbed children and their families, including therapy, care coordination and respite. To date, more than 400 families have been assisted by THINK.
—Luanne Panacek, Executive Director,
Children's Board of Hillsborough County
Tampa
Back To Nature
Re: "Naked Without Shame" by Nano Riley (July 2-8)
Kudos to your newspaper on this article. It is about time that something was written without negativity about these wonderful resorts here in Tampa. My parents are nudists and currently reside in Paradise Lakes. I, too, like most others, thought I was going to walk into this free-for-all, sexually perverted atmosphere and found a beautiful panorama of nature — kind, wonderful people without judgment and endless activities to encounter. It truly is about being who you are with confidence and not at all about sex.
—V. Rogers
Tampa
The Editor Am Careless, but the Writer Are a Pedant
Re: Cover blurb (June 11-17)
I would like to reply to your Best of the Bay Readers' Poll question, "Who do you love?" by assuring the editor responsible for that formulation that him is not the one. If our most prestigious publications eschew the rules of basic grammar, whither civilization?
—Keith Roberts
Tampa
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2003.