LITTLE PEACE OF MINE (56 mins) Israel Director: Eyal AvneriCourtesy: Prix Jeunesse Suitcase
After witnessing a terror attack, Nadav, a charismatic 12 year old Jerusalemite, decides that grown ups can no longer be trusted to bring peace to the region, and he must act. He starts a movement “Peace for the Future”. Nadav expects tens of thousands of children to join him. His enthusiasm is contagious. Nadav and his friends embark on an eventful journey. The reality he and his friends uncover, is a reflection of the world of adults, Palestinians and Israelis, living in shadow of war.
Dear Nadav,
ReplyDeleteI have heard of Israel many times and I know that it is a beautiful historical place. But I have also heard that from the time Israel was formed, it has been the seat of trouble. Yet we were unfamiliar with what was going on there. The enemity that the Palestinians have with the Israelites really amazed us. They hate each other by mere look of the face. In such a condition where anarchy and lawlessness were at their height and peoples’ lives were in jeopardy with bomb blasts and terrorism, it was really brave of you to put forward the movement of peace. It was a real eye opener for us. But at some point I felt that everything cannot be done by children alone, especially in such a chaotic condition. If you would lead the movement and at least allow the adults to join in, perhaps your dream for bringing back peace would not go in vain. It was necessary to spread awareness among the adults too.
At this point I was really reminded of Michael Jackson’s famous song “Heal the world, make it a better place/ For you and for me/ and the entire human race”. I felt very bad when I saw your co-members slowly splitting up. But I know that it is very easy to say something, than to actually put it into action. All of us appreciated and got inspired by your leadership and selflessness through out the movement. I would also like to suggest that. “The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping into the rungs of opportunity”. Hence, never get tensed when the starting does not go very smoothly because the aftermath is sure to be a ‘bang’. Once again I would like to say that we all would like to have the same sense of courage, morality, selflessness in us.
- Ruth Mou Gomes
- Class IX Gold
- Loreto Day School, Sealdah
Dear Nadav,
ReplyDeleteHello! I am Ishani Mazumdar and your film was just an awesome one. Your acting was fantastic. In the film you were a very good leader – just an ideal one. You always took everybody’s opinion and then took a decision. You were not orthodox and dominating. I just loved your way of leadership. It was your friends who did not co-operate with you. I think if you would include some adults in your group, it would be better. Most of the people do not take children into account. So, if adults would be there, they would provide you with better ideas and perhaps you would succeed in your motive. You tried your best. It was not a total defeat of yours. You at least ended up with one Palestinian friend. I feel that this is also a great success. Your team members had left you alone, but still you had hope left in you. You kept contact with the association and wanted to carry on. I liked your spirit. One particular scene really impressed me. When Mai wanted to have a conversation with you alone for two minutes, you took the permission of your co-members before taking a decision. You could just go and talk with her as you were the leader, but you did not do so. At first when you wanted to work with a lot of Palestinian children, your friends asked you to start with only two children and you did not agree with them. I felt that you were somewhat being insensitive, but as the film proceeded, I found that you were a quiet, intelligent, understanding and sensitive person. Another scene has also left a mark in my mind. When Noa could not be the part of the gang any more, she was crying so much and her love for this mission really impressed me.
You tried your best to achieve your goal. If you would get full co-operation from the others, I think it would have a better result. I felt that your acting was the best and you could impress all. You tried hard. Though you did not succeed in building up a bond of friendship between the people of Palestine and Israel, it was a great experience for you. This time you could not succeed. Next time, with the help of new Palestinian friends, perhaps you will attain success. Don’t lose your hope. Carry on.
Yours sincerely,
Ishani Mazumdar
Class IX Gold,
Loreto Sealdah
On 26th of August, 2009, we were all taken to Birla Industrial & Technological Museum. Over there we were shown a film called Little Peace of Mine, which was about how some Israeli children make friends with Palestinian children. The most memorable scene in the whole film was at the checkpoint when Nadav says to Mai that he has to become a soldier and at the end when Nadav ends up having a true Palestinian friend Mai, even though the others leave them. The film was very inspiring and it inspired us very much. We as children would never think of doing such things which Nadav and his friends actually did/ It inspired us to think that even we children could take such a stand. Nadav played the role of a leader in the film and indeed he had the qualities of a leader. The most important fact which I liked about Nadav is that, he was never bossy. It was not that what he would say, others would have to follow, but that he would listen to the others. When Nadav wanted to talk to Mai alone, he could have just gone to a corner and talked with her, but instead he took permission from his friends and then talked with Mai. I think this was a great quality of Nadav. Another quality of Nadav was that though he was left alone by all his friends, he never walked away, but continued in every way to keep contact with Mai, who was a Palestinian. What Nadav has done, is a great job, but the only thing I think is that, he could have taken some elders into confidence because this is a very difficult case to be handled by children. Though he did not succeed in the end in making the Israelis and Palestinians one, he ended up having a true Palestinian friend.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great experience to watch a documentary film organized by the Sabda Kalpa Bhram. It was a great experience especially because I had never watched a documentary before. It was a different thing, not like all other feature films. There is a difference between a documentary film and a feature film. Documentary films are realistic – something which really happened are shown, where as a feature film is all made up. We were shown two documentary films – “Little Peace of Mine” and “Waiting”. Both were immensely touchy and realistic. Peace of Mine was a documentary film from Israel, located in West Asia. It was a film relating the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinian people and now, despite the hopeless effort of the adults, children take up the task of uniting them. It was a breath taking, adventurous film, though there was some difficulty in reading the sub title, for the film was based on their language. But the way the organizers of Sabda Kalpa Bhram explained it to us, pausing every now and then and explaining, it was not that difficult. Though I felt that some parts of it were quite boring, some scenes were bewildering. The thing which impresses me in this film is the theme of how young children like us took up such a difficult task without elderly guidance and went forward. Many obstacles came, but they still went on. It shows how sincere they were in their task. Though they did not succeed in this task, they are all winners for us. We and many children all over the world, inspired by the sense of rivalry for other country, can be inspired by this film. My favourite character in the film was Nadav – the protagonist of this film. Nadav was a very intelligent judge of character, who actually came up with this idea of some Israeli children having a conversation or get together with Palestinian children. He was courageous and had the endeavouring sense of not giving up easily. He had to face many problems and obstacles, but he went and succeeded despite his failures. His dream never fulfilled of having a vinfying nation and enjoying a friendly life with as many Palestinian children, but at the end he was left with one Palestinian friend and he did not want to lose her. Despite some arguementary conversation between Nadav and his friends, Nadav never gave up. In fact, he still went on when his friends turned away. Nadav dreamt a lot, but eventually he was left with nothing. But I still want to advise him that he should continue to dream, for then only he will be able to convert it to reality.
ReplyDeleteThe best scene in the movie, for me, was when Nadav’s classmates teased him, taunted him for his mission, but that made no effect on him because he was strong and knew that whatever he was doing was correct. Again, another emotional scene was when Noa, Nadav’s friend, could not join him in this task, for she had certain classes which clashed with the timing of the task of meeting Palestinian children. But Nadav understood it and never forced or compelled her to come. It proved that he was a good leader too.
On the 26th of August, 2009, we were taken to BITM to watch a film as there was a film festival going on. We watched the films. One was, how a group of children from Israel tried to be friends with the children of Palestine. And the other film was, how the people of Kashmir got missing and totally vanished. From these two films, if anyone asked me which was the film I liked the best, then I would choose the first one. In this film we find that not only elders can break barriers between people, but also the young ones can do so, if they try their best. In the film, the children sometimes failed in their plans and sometimes won, but the patience that the children of Israel had, took them to their pinnacle of success. I also liked the guts that the little boy Nadav had. How he went to the checkpoint of Palestine alone, despite knowing that the place was not safe. In the film there are several memorable scenes which I can never forget. Some of these scenes are: when the children of Palestine and Israel met together and spent time. Secondly, when the little girl had to leave the group because of her evening tutorials and how she cried. This scene was very touching. And, last but not the least was, when he was teased by his school friends, but still he did not give up and say a word. Instead, he still carried on with his dreams. These were some of the moments that made the movie superb.
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