To Shoot an Elephant
Ted Wilcox, a fellow activist in Rochester, sent me an email from a friend, in the UK I think, with some references to materials on Palestine. Of them film, To Shoot an Elephant, is extremely powerful. The original link took me to a version of the film without subtitles, but the one linked to here has subtitles available in several languages, including English. The film, recorded on site during the first couple of weeks of Cast Lead, is a little long and has some seriously disturbing scenes. However, those of us who feel compelled to stand and witness the disaster the Western imperialist powers and Israel are visiting on the rest of the world in the name of civilization and anti-terrorism should watch it.
There is a sequence in the film, introduced as ‘The Hamdan Family’. Something seemed familiar, but I didn’t get it till the second time I saw it (with subtitles). The two children who died in the scene were on a list of casualties I read at a demonstration last spring. Now they are more than names on a list. The realization reduced me to tears. Two little girls struck down while playing in their yard, carried to the hospital on a donkey cart, beyond resuscitation on arrival, finally resting together in a single drawer in the morgue. There’s no room at the inn, and no medicine at the hospital, and no room even in house of death for these innocent children. At least they were not left alone with their trauma. What kind of a world have we created where there is no room for innocent children to play.
The title of the film is a reference to a short story, Shooting an Elephant, written by George Orwell. At first, I wasn’t clear on the connection. But I think what it is, is a reference to all of us passive participants in the American dominated world order. We don’t wish anyone harm, but even the most liberal among us, are part of the juggernaut, and when push comes to shove, we accommodate it. The story is an excellent piece of colonial literature, and it is quite short. I encourage you to read it. It is freely available on the internet, as is the film. The filmmaker has made the film free on the internet, and encourages a wide distribution. I wish we could get hundreds of people to sit and watch this film, thousands, everyone. Like ‘Rethink Afghanistan’, it is an experience no one can walk away from unmoved.