Miral is arrested by Israeli authorities and taken to be tortured
Miral had its US premiere last night in the United Nations General Assembly despite a last minute attempt by Israel, and its supporters, to cancel the show. There were some murmurs about the protest at the event, including director Julian Schnabel asking if there was anyone from the American Jewish Committee in attendance so they could see the film before criticizing it, but for the most part the night was about Miral and what the filmmakers hope it can accomplish.
1,400 people attended the screening, an odd mix of socialites, dignitaries, solidarity types and a sprinkling a recognizable faces. Most of us were herded through a security checkpoint before entering the UN while, somewhere else, more high profile guests were heading down the red carpet. As unexpecting moviegoers had to strip off overcoats, jackets and shawls, and I struggled to keep my pants up after being made to take off my belt to get through a metal detector, I thought to myself this was not exactly the entrance I had imagined for my first (and probably only) Hollywood premiere, but it seemed fitting for a film about Palestine.
Filing into the general assembly. (Photo: Adam Horowitz)
Everyone settled into their seats in the General Assembly hall and the movie started after a quick intro by Schnabel. The film was a slightly edited version of the one I saw in November (evidently 13 minutes have been shaved off). I’ll post a more formal review in time for the March 25th release, but it seems the film was warmly, if not overwhelmingly, received by the audience.
The part of the night that I want to focus on for now was the discussion after the film. Dan Rather moderated a panel with Schnabel, Rula Jebreal, Mona Eltahawy, Rabbi Irwin Kula, and Israeli refuser Yonatan Shapira. Rather was folksy, but seemed a bit lost (he opened comparing the film to other “issue” films such as Philadelphia, Life is Beautiful and Dead Man Walking), and Rabbi Kula, although I appreciated him being there given the response from the Jewish community, was a bit too new-agey for me. The night belonged to Schnabel, Jebreal, and most of all Shapira who brought the urgency of the situation in Israel/Palestine to the packed hall.
Jebreal began the panel discussion by pointing to the importance of the premiere’s venue. “I never thought my voice, my story, would be heard in this room,” she said, adding, “and I never thought a Jewish guy would be the one to tell it.” Although this line predictably received laughs, it was a theme for the evening. Schnabel then spoke, repeating what he has said elsewhere about his mother’s role with Hadassah and his own Zionist upbringing. He then said:
My mother believed in this utopian democratic place, a Jewish homeland and I do too, but it can’t exist like this. I think the settlements are absolutely an impossibility. If you look around the region everybody wants democracy, so where do we have it? We have a democracy that was okay for Israelis, but not for the Palestinians that live in the same country? Or we can have democracy, but it is based on relationships with regimes that have tyrannic rulers? I don’t see that as something I can abide by.
It’s clear Schnabel’s eyes have been opened to the conflict in Palestine, and the basic inequity of a system that privileges Jews over all others.
The Egyptian revolution also resonated throughout the evening and the comments on the film. Eltahawy spoke about Egypt and gave an endorsement to the March 15th protests taking place in the occupied territories today. She also said “the role model for Arab youth is now Tahrir Square,” and I think it will also be the model for the audiences who see this film. It will be impossible for the film’s stirring archival footage of the first intifada to not resonate with people who have recently been glued to Al Jazeera. The story of injustice and resistance is a familiar one.
Finally Shapira spoke and he started by explaining the importance of learning the story of the other. He shared that he, as an Israeli, had not learned about the Nakba until he was 31 years old, and he said this was indicative of an Israeli public that is completely unaware of the Palestinian story. He made the obvious (and important) point that compared to the current reality in Israel/Palestine the film (no matter how “controversial” it is considered) is very moderate. Shapiro spoke about Gaza (“people are locked in the world’s biggest ghetto”) and talked about his experience on the Jewish Boat to Gaza where he was intentionally tazered by the Israeli military when they recognized him as a refuser and activist.
Most importantly, Shapira also drew attention to the screening’s venue, and raised the Obama administration’s shameful veto of a recent security council resolution condemning Israeli settlements. He said that the veto, as well as the failed peace process, show that people (and he specifically mentioned audiences that see Miral) don’t have to wait for governments to change the world, they can change it themselves. Shapira then said he was going to introduce the audience to a new word – “BDS” – and he received a surprisingly loud round of applause. That’s how the evening ended.
It’s hard to tell how the film will be received by a broader audience, but at least for one night, this tame, watered down film helped spark a conversation on Israel/Palestine that is waiting to burst out about freedom, dignity and the path to get there. As I left the U.N., there were some activists from the US Boat to Gaza on the sidewalk handing out materials about the next flotilla. They reported that most people leaving the film were friendly (they had already handed out over 1,000 fliers), and I saw only one moviegoer shout a snide comment in the 10 minutes I was with them. Maybe this was one small sign the film will carry a bit of the intifada’s spirit to the multiplexes of America.
