One Wish Jerusalem

April 22, 2013 7:56 PM

Shot in one day, in Jerusalem, we invited everyone who passed to share a wish ... One Wish Jerusalem משאלה אחת ירושלים واحد يرغب القدس

Via Haaretz: What happens when an American asks Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem their wishes?, and inspired by Ali Molavi's film Wish, part of the Fifty People, One Question project. [previously]

Yehuda Amichai's poem Ecology of Jerusalem quoted in the article from Haaretz can be found here.

posted by Joe in Australia (15 comments total)

On the waters of Babylon, we sat and we wept when we remembered Zion.
On the willows therein, we hung up our harps
Because our captors had asked for the words of a song, our hangmen for joy:
"Sing for us from a Zion Song!"

(How could we sing a Song of Yahweh on strange soil?)

"If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget...

Let my tongue stick in my mouth if I should not remember you.

If I should not raise Jerusalem upon the height of my joy..."

Remember, Yahweh, for the Bnei Edom, the Day of Jerusalem,
How they said: "Strip her! Strip her to her to the foundation!"

Daughter of Babylon.
Shedudah.
Blessed is he who repays you the vengeance that you venged on us.
Blessed is he who grasps,
And who smashes
Your children into the rock.
posted by R. Schlock at 8:49 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

That is nicely done, and an interesting mix of the "I wish the other guys would get out" with the apolitical universal human ones. The kid at 4:26 made me mist up; I hope he gets his wish.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:14 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

I liked the lady at 1:24 and I really hope her guy sees this. Also, kids are dumb.
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:42 PM on April 22, 2013

Also, kids are dumb..

Kids are honest. It would have been interesting to have heard more from them.
posted by three blind mice at 10:38 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thanks for sharing this. The amazing thing that stands out to me is how, despite the random political "this place would be great if those guys weren't here" wishes, you already have a tapestry of people from all over the world, with all different beliefs, attempting to live their lives. Some wish for peace in one language or another, while some wish for a lottery win or romance, and one yearns for Ethiopia.

Sure, the film paints this portrait for us a little by cutting between East and West Jerusalem, and the reality is far from perfect on either side, but amidst all the nonsense, actual people want to just live their lives.
posted by zachlipton at 11:59 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure that the film is painting a picture there: I think it may have all been shot near the Damascus Gate, on either side of the 1949 armistice line. Did you notice the old guy who wanted the Jordanians back? Right out of left field, that was.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:34 AM on April 23, 2013

No, scenes from the West are filmed in Mahane Yehuda.
posted by R. Schlock at 1:36 AM on April 23, 2013

You're right about Mahane Yehudah, and I think this map (warning, big file) shows that the Damascus Gate is actually in No Man's Land. Heaven knows whether that's supposed to be East or West - and even that is a model of clarity compared to, e.g., Mount Scopus.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:50 AM on April 23, 2013

Since they were linked - the 50 people one question videos were really cool, but good lord, the amount of filler on intro and ending was ludicrous. They all seem to be the same style, but I only checked the actual time on the New Orleans video. First actual answer comes 3:10 into an 8 minute video. These would move from interesting and good to excellent if they actually allotted time for 50 people to answer the question. There's 5 minutes of padding 3 minutes of content. A shame.
posted by efalk at 4:09 AM on April 23, 2013

the Damascus Gate is actually in No Man's Land

Given the proliferation there of wilting produce, Chinese knockoff shoes and cheap plastic toys, that's probably as good a name for it as any.
posted by R. Schlock at 5:58 AM on April 23, 2013

This was probably supposed to be affirming in some way but I can only experience it as deeply heartbreaking.
posted by Mooseli at 7:09 AM on April 23, 2013

Did you notice the old guy who wanted the Jordanians back? Right out of left field, that was.

I thought that was an amazing anachronism.
posted by snottydick at 7:43 AM on April 23, 2013

Man, if I was by the old city in Jerusalem my answers would be "world peace" followed very closely by "shawarma." On a bad day, shawarma would come first.
posted by MuffinMan at 8:34 AM on April 23, 2013

I would have requested pork be taken off the non-kosher list, but then I have different priorities.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:52 PM on April 23, 2013

Reminds me of a joke: it's 1949, and the new Israeli ambassador to the UK gets paged by his secretary "Your excellency, someone from The Times wants to know what you want." "Excuse me?" "He says that it's nearly Christmas and he has been told to ask what the ambassador wants. Do you think it's a trick?" "No .... maybe. They might be trying to incriminate us." "Well, he's still on the line. What should I tell him?" "A basket of fruit. That's safe enough. Tell him we want a basket of fruit."

That year The Times carried an editorial: "As is our yearly custom we contacted world representatives to ask their wishes for Christmas and the new year. The Russian ambassador hoped for the universal brotherhood of mankind. The USAn ambassador wanted liberty and freedom to ring forth around the world. The Israeli ambassador wanted a basket of fruit."
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:49 PM on April 23, 2013