B.Z. Goldberg, the Israeli-American director of Promises, traveled to Jerusalem, where he met with and filmed the Israeli and Palestinian children. Goldberg formed relationships with the children and encouraged them to break down the prejudices and preconceptions that surround them in their respective cultures.
During the filming, Goldberg arranged for telephone communication among the children and then an opportunity for the children to meet in person. Of course, this involved passing through military checkpoints and keeping a very low profile to avoid violence. After working out some of the awkwardness and emotional upheaval that resulted from the children's first acquaintance, they greatly enjoyed being in each other's company. Several of them stated that they wanted to keep in touch with each other and continue to visit.
However, despite the camaraderie that formed during the course of filming, even in childhood the Israelis and the Palestinians live very different and separate lives. The movie concludes with a video interview years after the children were introduced to each other. The children (now teenagers) say that they did stay in touch shortly after Goldberg left, but soon after they drifted apart due to the difficulty in maintaining relationships across the highly secured borders and a general lack of interest.
Promises is a very highly praised movie because it offers a close look into life in Jerusalem from a unique point of view. It seems to me that the reason Goldberg chose to interview and follow children is that children tend to maintain a more open mind and sense of humanity than adults. It is interesting to note that most of the children were willing and interested in learning about and communicating with the other. Without Goldberg's presence and with the children's coming of age, however, the great disparities between the Israeli and Palestinian lifestyles took precedence. In the group of children included in this program, the Israeli children enjoyed a much better standard of living than the Palestinians in terms of freedom of movement and access to opportunities, and it was the Israeli children who felt least interested in maintaining communication with the Palestinian children they'd met.
The documentary raises an interesting point about the conditions required for peaceful cooperation among groups of people: it seems that there must be an equality in standing among the people involved or any relationship becomes one of giving and taking rather than mutual cooperation. In the case of this group of children, only the Israelis truly had the means to maintain the relationship because only they had economic resources and freedom of movement. They preferred to use their opportunities to pursue personal interests and chose to avoid visiting the poverty and violence of the Palestinian refugee camps. The Palestinian children had little to offer in this situation.
The program does indirectly suggest some bit of hope for a peaceful future between Israel and Palestine. That is, that if children were exposed to the other side and taught to accept, then a satisfactory solution may perhaps be more easily reached. Another spin on this same idea is that if adults were to rekindle that same sense of humanity and openness that Goldberg found in the children he followed, peace would be more likely to result.
The documentary included ample footage and interviews that were very informative. It was relatively well organized, though slightly difficult to follow due to the sheer amount of information. There was a touch of drama, however that is to be expected from a movie of this type.
I felt that this film made a good complement with Biography - Ariel Sharon, since it is along the same topic. The major difference between these two documentaries is that the biography focuses on the factual political and military information, while Promises is more about the human aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and what it actually means to grow up in Jerusalem.
This is definitely and eye-opening program when it comes to detailing the specific issues in Jerusalem. I would not solely place the value of the movie on that though, as its deeper message about the nature of humanity seems to be equally important. It is a message that everybody could benefit from hearing, and I wish much success for those in Promises.
