Directed by: Hilla Medalia.
Written by: Philip Shane & Hilla Medalia.
When
I heard the premise of the documentary Dancing in Jaffa I thought I knew what
to expect from the film – an inspirational documentary that doesn’t so much
deal in reality but wants to put a sunny face on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The movie is about Pierre Dulaine, who was born in Jaffa to Palestinian
parents, but who immigrated to America in his youth where he became a champion
ballroom dancer, and later a teacher. But what he has always wanted to do is
return to Jaffa, and teach the children there – but the Jews and Muslims – to
dance together. While the film is in many ways the inspirational documentary I
thought it would be – but it also doesn’t shy away from the realities in Jaffa
specifically and Israel in general.
The
smartest thing that is said in Dancing in Jaffa is by Dulaine early in the film
when he tells a cab driver that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are
going to go anywhere, so they need to find a way to live together. The
hardliners on both sides would disagree with that, but to most of us, that
seems reasonable – it acknowledges the reality of the situation that isn’t
likely to change until both sides can agree on that one simple thing.
When
Dulaine starts teaching at various schools in Jaffa, things don’t go quite as
smoothly as he would like them to. In the individual schools, things go pretty
well – the kids, who are all around 10 or 11 – dance together and have fun. It’s
when he tries to integrate them together when things go wrong. Some of the
children refuse to touch each other – they talk about what their parents would
think. The film shows many of those parents, and Dancing in Jaffa acknowledges
the situation. It shows the protests and celebrations on both sides – the Jews
would want the Muslims to leave the city, and the Muslims who want the Jews to
leave. Neither side really deals or talks to the other side at all – they don’t
see each other as people, but as something they want gone.
As
the film moves along, the children start to get better – the ones who Dulaine
select to take part in a competition do start to touch each other when they
dance, do get to know each other, and talk to each other – and a few even see
each other outside of the class. They acknowledge that before the class they
didn’t even talk to someone on the other side – and now they have become
friends with some of them.
Dancing
in Jaffa never loses sight on how little impact the program is actually having.
The world outside of the class doesn’t change at all, and the movie doesn’t
really argue that all the sides need to do is get to know each other, find
common ground, and then they can move forward. The film knows that the progress
made in Dancing in Jaffa will have little to no effect on the
situation in general – and then even some of the kids in the class have not
made all that much progress. But for others, it does make a difference –it
makes some of the students see each other in a way they have not before.
Perhaps Dulaine didn’t accomplish everything he wanted – but he did accomplish
something. If more people were at least willing to try, then slowly things may
start to get better.
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