More on the Tribeca Film Festival

Friday, I did a double feature through the Tribeca Film Festival.  Zolykha’s Secret and The Golden Door. 

The Golden Door is about coming to America from Italy at the turn of the 20th century.  The Golden Door representing Ellis Island.  I didn’t love it.  Although from what I have read, the movie seemed pretty realistic.  Lots of pushing, shoving and waiting on the boat.  Not my favorite.

Zolkyha’s Secret was long and slow but it stayed with me.  A rural family who lives up in the mountains of Afghanistan and their plight as the Taliban takes over the country.  Rural can’t even describe how the family lives.  A concrete type hut with plastic for windows, big pillows for sleeping on, hot coals for ironing, a fire for eating and a plot of farm land for eating.  It is truly a step into a different world from what we know. 
The Taliban is now the law.  They beat women who are not appropriately dressed, they cut off a boys hand who hasn’t behaved accordingly to their interpretation of scripture.  Truly disturbing.  This happy family, who can’t even get help for their sick grandmother because the only doctor in town isn’t allowed to treat woman, says the Taliban, is just going about living their life.  Because of the Taliban, the family slowly, over a matter of a few days, is destroyed.  It is painful and disturbing to watch.  Made me wonder what we can possibly do to help the Afghanistan people.  They are living the same existence that they have lived for thousands of years and my guess is they will continue to live that way for thousands more.  At least they should be able to live in peace. 

What I like about the festival is the opportunity to see films that might never make it to the big screen.  Some should, others shouldn’t.  Gives one much better insight into the difficulty of actually getting a good film made and seen.  I just hope next year that more films are available for day time viewing.