PEOPLE'S CULTURE

By Bill Meyer

People's Weekly World

TORONTO, Ont., Canada - The terrorist attack on the U.S. shocked filmgoers attending the Toronto International Film Festival. All theaters were immediately shut down for the rest of the evening on Sept. 11. The carefully chosen films on my must-see list immediately took on added relevance. I was still recovering from reliving the Attica uprising the night before, vividly brought to life in The Killing Yard.

The senseless killings, brought about by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's orders to attack the prisoners in upstate New York, were fresh on my mind when the body counts started coming in from the World Trade Center. I had just discovered the relatively unknown history of the fighting in Spain that continued after World War II ended.

From Spain, Broken Silence, is a hymn to the brave Republican guerrilla fighters who fought to defend their villages against the continued oppression of Franco's forces. Thousands of villagers were tortured, raped and killed, leaving behind many loved ones.

The previous afternoon, the American film, The Grey Zone, attempted to recreate one of the most horrid chapters from the Jewish Holocaust of World War II. "Special Squads" of Jewish prisoners were assigned to maintain the gas chambers in exchange for a few more weeks of life. Their forced labor is unbearable to describe and almost too visually shocking to watch. As we know too well, millions were killed in one of the most inhuman chapters in history.

The first day of the festival offered one of the most challenging films ever to hit the screen. Legendary British director Peter Watkins (Battle Of Culloden, The War Game) had chosen to recreate the uprising of the Paris Commune - without any corporate funding! La Commune, a monumental six-hour masterwork, covers the months of 1871 when the hopes of Parisians to create an egalitarian government were brutally suppressed. Thousands were killed and tortured.

The very first film I saw in Toronto this year set the tone for the rest of the festival. No Man's Land, a Cannes Film Festival winner from Bosnia, bravely offered a statement about the futility of war. Prisoners from both sides of the battle end up trapped in a trench in the middle of the battlefield.

Nationalism, male chauvinism, warmongering and propaganda from "corporate controlled" media are all exposed as damaging forces. With drama and humor combined, the film ends with an image that will burn in your memory, implying that the world could be a time bomb just waiting to explode.

When all the wars of the former Yugoslavia were ended, tens of thousands had fallen victim, leaving countries full of grieving survivors. Just prior to the news of the Sept. 11 attack, I learned of the tragic loss of 769 Romanian Jews off the coast of Turkey in 1941.

The Struma, was the name of the overloaded broken-down ship of refugees that were not allowed to disembark and, instead, were cruelly sent to their deaths in the Black Sea. This documentary is about the recent attempt to locate and raise the ship, and a tribute to the victims and the sole survivor.

With such death and destruction portrayed in powerful historical films, it isn't difficult to draw comparisons. Even though the exact type of attack came as a shock, and the terrible loss of life is the worst America has had to endure since the 1800s, we somehow knew our country would eventually join the bloody battlefields of the world. We've all known of the shocking loss of lives in places like Chile during the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.

The Case of Pinochet is the latest documentary from Patricio Guzman, describing the recent attempts to bring the dictator to justice in the world's courts. Survivors describe in detail the torture they endured after the coup.

A reminder of the days of apartheid, Malunde is a story of redemption and reconciliation, South Africa's humane response to a century of terror in the form of a brutal social system supported by our government.

The effects of colonialism and misplaced support of corrupt regimes in Africa is covered in 100 Days, the only dramatic film made about the unbelievable extent of mass genocide in Rwanda.

The Toronto International Film Festival lived up to its name, providing rare glimpses of the world's people from a perspective rarely seen on American television, and hardly ever seen in theaters. This year was especially abundant with stories about Afghani and Pakistani refugees fleeing into Iran, still suffering from the U.S.-backed wars in that region.

Baran a film from Iran tells the simple story of a poor Afghan family trying to eke out an existence in their new land. An old man with no sons left and no form of income, has one of his daughters dress as a boy to get meager work at a local factory. The compassionate support from a young Iranian worker, who discovers her identity, is heartbreaking. Delbaran is another powerful story about a 14-year-old Afghan refugee fleeing from his war-torn country, trying to survive as a worker in a bordertown gas station.

The Sun Behind the Moon addresses the plight of Afghan refugees longing to return home, as well as landmine victims trying to rebuild their lives. By now, readers are probably asking, why would someone want to sit through films dealing with death and destruction, depicting some of the most challenging events in history. These weren't the only kinds of films at the festival, but certainly among the most valuable.

Films can bring you closer to humanity in many ways: travel to far off places you most likely would never see in your lifetime; live alongside people you would never get to know, let alone understand without a translator; and experience events in history you would never be able to attend personally.

To witness the extraordinary strength and powerful spirit of people to survive some of the most extreme conditions, allows the chance to witness the commonality of all humanity.

To find filmmakers searching for truth rather than profits, and able to express their artistic and humanitarian impulses, is a rare find nowadays in cinema. Film festivals are becoming the last refuge of meaningful cinema. Hope is provided in at least one little film from Israel/Palestine. Promises documents the various attitudes of young people living there today.

It's the same spectrum of adult positions from peace to warhawks. One Jewish and one Arab boy are willing to meet each other and their world's change, as do the emotions of the viewer.

In this small example lies the hope of humanity, to find ways for peaceful coexistence, honoring the rich culture and history of both peoples.

The bombings in America were not an act of God. They were perpetrated by inhuman people unaware and unconcerned about the eventual suffering of other human beings.

Either driven by religious extremism or imperialist power and greed, the events recreated in some of these carefully chosen films resemble too closely the pain and suffering Americans are now going through. Those seeking revenge are blinded by hatred and a false patriotism for one small country on this globe. Humanity has been suffering for centuries, and we're all a part of that larger country.

The last line from the last film viewed over a 10-day period, came from the ultimate anti-war statement at the festival. To End All Wars, featuring superb acting from Kiefer Sutherland and Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, Angela's Ashes) to name just a few, tells the story of WWII prisoners of war in the Japanese camps in Singapore. The most extreme acts of torture and barbarism are depicted during the forced building of the "Railroad of Death" by Scottish prisoners. A fierce debate goes on in the camp between those consumed with hatred who want to escape and exact revenge, and those who are trying to find a sane way out of the senseless cycle of violence.

Credits roll and a statement remains vivid on the screen: "War is the last destination of hatred."