Estrella

Born and raised in Jerusalem in the second half of the twentieth century could confuse one’s identity. Palestinian versus Israeli. Muslim Arab versus Muslim Israeli. The longest and most fought-over city in the world was the location of the film Miral . Miral was the name for the red flower that grew on the side of the road in Jerusalem. This flower was a witness to lots of the pain and change in the lands of Israel and Palestine like Miral, the film’s protagonist. Image from Google Images Miral was born to a mother who underwent sexual abuse as a child and an imam father who loved her mother despite of her pain and addictions. Miral came of age in an all-girls school. The school was the product of one woman’s desire to help orphaned Palestinian children during the 1948 war. Each subsequent war brought more orphans and more girls. After Miral lost her mother, her father decided to send her to the girls school for her education and well-being because her ...

A promise of a job can come in many different forms, but for young women in former Eastern bloc countries, there could be danger. Human trafficking has pillaged eastern European countries and preyed on the innocent for the expense of free labor and sexual exploitation. Larysa Kondracki’s The Whistleblower shows a view into that realm where those who you thought you could trust to protect actually are those who try to persecute you. The Whistleblower focused on the real-life account of the Natacha’s 1 who came from Eastern Europe with the promise of better jobs but who were trafficked into the sex trade. Kathryn Bolkovac (portrayed by actress Rachel Weisz) was the former Nebraskan cop who took the opportunity to become a U.N. peacekeeper in formerly war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina. Once in Bosnia Bolkovac uncovered a major trafficking operation of Eastern European women into Bosnia, which was being operated and controlled by U.N. peacekeepers, multinational companies’ contractors...

I have started watching films based on the war motif. I kicked off the war series with Red Tails , a heroic portrait of the Tuskegee Airmen who flew in combat for the U.S. against the Nazis during WWII. Real characters of men came to life as well as the hurt of segregation and racism and the pain of losing men in war. But war is hell, and my second film showed a much more visual and guttural graphic of that saying. In the Land of Blood and Honey was Angelina Jolie’s first directed film, but I know that it won’t be her last. As much as Jolie is embraced and embedded into American Hollywood, her underlying skin breathes for international conflicts, hoping to bring peace to them. In another life, I see her being a diplomat, an activist and a reporter. In this life, her efforts to meet with other distressed people in the developing world in international conflicts has made her all three.   The Bosnian War was noted as “the worst war in European histo...

She walks by, and the men on their cigarette break jeer at her.   "Hey beautiful!"   "Hey sexy!" they say.   The hissing sounds made to call cats are now for her.   Yet, she giggles to herself, making the men continue their calls and words out to her.   " ايش عسل " (Iesha assel!) which means "Hey honey!"   She wears skinny jeans, a long sleeved shirt and some makeup – nothing really revealing – even if she does not wear the hejaab (head scarf) .   Another girl is behind her and passes the same men.   The men begin their jeering at her, calling her inappropriate names.   They say her eyes are beautiful, observing that her mascara highlights their color.   What is she wearing?   An all black robe, a hejaab (head scarf) and a nekaab which covers here entire face except her eyes left open to the public.   Different appearances, yet same treatment from the men on the street.   Welcome to the streets of ...

Honor: it is what holds together tribes in Jordan as well in other parts of the Middle East.   It is also the reason that some kill for.   According to Jordanian journalist Rana Husseini, honor crimes are reasons for male family members to persecute and kill their female relatives for dishonoring their family.   It is in a woman’s virginity and modesty that the family honor lies.   When that specific honor is violated, then the woman’s family believes that the honor is lost. Honor crimes are not particular to any culture or religion.   There are many cases of honor crimes that happen in Arab and Islamic society, which is largely a tribal society tracing back before the time of Islam.   In Jordan, however, approximately 20 honor killings happen annually.   That’s a small number compared to the hundreds of honor crimes that happen in Yemen or in Turkey.   Many of these crimes are not mentioned to the authorities actually bec...