Aisheen: Still Alive in Gaza
6 May 2010, lunch time
After B1 we walked over to Isabel Bader to watch Aisheen: Still Alive in Gaza. The film is a look at the lives of the people in Gaza following their most recent war with Israel, and the sanctions that came with Hamas coming to power. The movie opens with the manager of a playground taking a child around a haunted house that was bombed by the Israeli army. From there we move from one story to the next, meeting people whose lives are broken, stuck in limbo, or both. The film is a series of monologues and conversations. The boredom and frustration is palatable. There is an undercurrent of anger that flares up on occasion. The spectre of Hamas seems to hang over everything. The film is a bit slow, but I think this helps tell the story: life in Gaza looks to be slow. The screening was packed. I think films about the Middle East attract a large audience here in Toronto. Aisheen was a well thought out film. The Q&A that followed was surprisingly good, for a change.