Inhabiting Other Lives: Self and Other

IDH 2004 Spring 2009 Mondays, 2:00-4:45 pm Library 150

Instructor: Scott Kass Email: [email protected] Phone: (305) 919-5933 Office: Library 210 Office Hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 am – 3 pm and by appointment

This Honors seminar will expose you to issues of human commonality and diversity, and invite you to investigate and to understand the interconnectedness of other cultures, times and sets of life experiences. Specifically, we will study Third World cinema.

Third World cinema opens up a new world of exotic traditions; amazing settings; fascinating architecture; strange costumes, objects, and people; and customs you’ve never heard of. You will read subtitles and listen to the sounds of languages you don’t speak. You will get to observe people behaving under extremely different circumstances but acting a lot like you.

We will screen about a dozen films representative of contemporary Third World cinema. I hope they will help you understand the history, politics, society, economy and aesthetic conventions of their non-Western cultures.

This is not a “mere” film appreciation course. Our objectives are to:

• Learn how societies other than our own address human needs and concerns • Develop an understanding of non-Western cultures’ traditions, beliefs, and values • Interpret patterns of behavior reflecting values and attitudes in different societies • Develop an understanding of diverse geography and environments • Develop an understanding of the ways in which culture, gender, and class affect individual and collective identities and experiences • Develop an understanding of political ideas, institutions, struggles, and conflicts • Learn of beliefs, sentiments, values and issues that unite and divide people • Stretch our eyes, ears, and intellect by acquiring a taste for foreign films 2

You are accustomed to viewing First World films (Hollywood commercial spectacles). Some of you have seen Second World Films (so-called art films of European auteurs). In this course you will be viewing Third World cinema and Third Cinema (we will discuss the distinction in class).

I admit that it’s difficult, at first, for us to sit through Third World films because we have been raised on the artificiality, commercialism, and razor-sharp editing of Hollywood and American TV. We are unaccustomed to the complexity, ambiguity, intellectualism, oddness, and often downright clunkiness of Third World filmmaking. These films often make us feel uncomfortable. Sometimes they’re boring, or too “talky.” But once we have become accustomed to them, there’s no going back to MTV, Channel 7 and the shopping mall Cineplex.

We will be viewing the films on different levels: • As documentary evidence of the Third World situation • As artistic creations that present stylized depictions of historical or contemporary situations • As indications of how Third World intellectuals are working through their own identities and those of their society.

We will also be addressing fundamental epistemological questions: What do we know, how do we know what we know, and can we prove that we know what we know—all as applied to our understanding of people of other places and times.

Texts: I will distribute readings, and you will access the university library and the WWW.

Course Methods: • Film screenings • Lectures • Discussions • Research • Oral presentations • Formal writing assignments

Course Requirements: • View all films in class • Actively participate in class discussions • Submit all work on time

Grading • Class participation ...... 33% • Oral Presentation ...... 33% • Formal writing assignment . . . . . 34%

Course Policies

Attendance Class attendance is mandatory. Exceptions will, of course, be made for illnesses, emergencies, and religious holidays. Excessive absences will result in a lower grade.

Tardiness Please come to class on time. Excessive tardiness will result in a lower grade.

Late Work Please submit work on time. Exceptions will, of course, be made for illnesses, emergencies, and religious holidays. Excessive late submissions will result in a lower grade.

Academic Integrity This course adheres to all Honors College and general University rules and regulations regarding academic integrity, by which I mean plagiarism and cheating.

Modification of Syllabus I retain the right to modify the course syllabus for any reason throughout the semester provided that (1) fair and adequate notice is given to enrolled students either by email or in writing, (2) modifications to the syllabus are not arbitrary or capricious, and (3) students are not unfairly disadvantaged by mid-semester changes to grading standards, attendance standards, or performance measure.

The Films We will be watching many of the films described on the following pages; however, I reserve the right to substitute.

RACHIDA (Algeria, 2002)

The young teacher Rachida is teaching at a school in Algiers, when she is stopped in the street by a group of youths who demand she take a bomb and place it in the school.

WHISKY (Uruguay, 2004) Set in Uruguay's gray and quiet port of Montevideo, Whisky presents a tale of self-realization and discovery. Jacobo is the dull and gravely serious owner of a sock factory. Every day, he follows the same routine - he gets up, drives to the factory and meets his manager Marta, a frumpy, quiet, middle-aged worker who is loyal to the factory and her home.

DAUGHTER OF KELTOUM (Algeria, 2001) Rallia, a 19-year-old westernized woman, is on a bus in the mountainous desert region of Algeria in northwest Africa, surveying where homes blend in with the landscape. Rallia is returning to her birthplace, hoping to find her mother, Keltoum.

HOLLOW CITY (Angola, 2004) Hollow City is set in Angola, the civil war-torn country in the southern west coast of Africa that had been colonized by Portugal until independence in 1975. In the tribal village of Bie, 11-year-old N'dala sees his family massacred by soldiers. He and other orphans are rescued by a missionary nun and flown to Luanda, Angola's capital, where he runs away from the group and journeys into the heart of the giant city.

UNIFORM (China, 2003) Twenty-something Wang Xiaojian, who works for his family's tailor shop, finds himself caught in the clashing values of modern-day China. A policeman has not picked up his uniform from the tailor shop. When Wang Xiaojian attempts to deliver it, he is told that the policeman was in an accident and will not be back for a while. On his way home, Wang is drenched by a sudden downpour. After drying off in a subway tunnel, he puts the uniform on and his life changes. The uniform gives him power, authority, and the ability to get money.

BATTLE OF ALGIERS (1967)

One of the most influential films in the history of political cinema, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers focuses on the harrowing events of 1957, a key year in Algeria’s struggle for independence from France. Shot in the streets 5

of Algiers in documentary style, the film vividly recreates the tumultuous Algerian uprising against the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, the French torture prisoners for information and the Algerians resort to terrorism in their quest for independence. Children shoot soldiers at point- blank range, women plant bombs in cafés. The French win the battle, but ultimately lose the war as the Algerian people demonstrate that they will no longer be suppressed.

SUGAR CANE ALLEY (Martinique, 1983) Tells the story of a young boy who is orphaned at the age of 11 and sent to live with his grandmother, who works on one of Martinique’s sugar cane plantations. Though he is bright, she realizes he has no future if he stays on the plantation. So she does what she can to keep him in school and away from the back- breaking, will-sapping hard labor to which she's devoted her life.

MEN WITH GUNS (Central America, 1998) A well-heeled doctor in an unnamed Latin country leaves his comfortable home in search of former medical students who may be caught in the political violence of the countryside.

SALAAM BOMBAY (India, 1988) An 11-year-old boy (real-life street kid Shafiq Syed) heads to the big city and joins a sea of homeless kids and down-and-out adults scrambling to survive the pitiless streets. The fantasy of Bollywood dreams hangs just out of reach in posters, movies, and radio tunes, momentary respites from the hard reality of a world ruled by brutal pimps and drug dealers.

PIXOTE (Brazil, 1981) Pixote (Portuguese slang for "Peewee") is the name of a chubby-cheeked 10- year-old runaway played by real-life slum kid Fernando Ramos da Silva. He's a natural, creating a childlike and vulnerable character left emotionally hardened and morally adrift by his brutal experiences. In an overcrowded São Paulo "reform school," a cross between a prison and an army barracks, he learns the hard facts of survival as he watches gangs prey on weaker kids, and the cops and guards abuse, beat, and even murder their prisoners.

STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE (Cuba, 1995)

This charming Cuban film details the unusual relationship between the flamboyant, educated Diego and the young, homophobic, pro-Revolution David. Miserable at being dumped by his girlfriend, David at first spurns the attentions of Diego; however, at the prompting of his Communist roommate, Miguel, he cultivates an acquaintanceship with Diego in order to investigate his liberal 6

leanings.

PATHER PANCHALI (India, 1958)

Pather Panchali tells the story of a family inching slowly and irrevocably, over the course of several years, toward the edge of financial and emotional disaster. In a rural Bengali village, circa 1919, Harihar recites sacred texts and performs religious rites for a living. He dreams of being a playwright, but he must support his growing family.

XALA (Senegal, 1975)

Wealthy businessman and community leader El Hadji has been known to take a bribe on occasion. He has two wives and has just taken a (much younger) third, when he succumbs to a xala, or curse, and is unable to consummate the marriage.

PARADISE NOW (Palestinian territory, 2005)

Two men, best friends from childhood, are summoned to fulfill their agreement to be suicide bombers for the Palestinian cause. Khaled and Said believe fervently in their cause, but having a bomb strapped to your waist would raise doubts in anyone--and once doubts have arisen, they respond in very different ways.

THE CIRCLE (Iran, 2000)

It's a girl. The first words spoken in Jafar Panahi's The Circle should be celebratory, but instead the mood of the scene is mournful. The relatives will be furious. This is a harrowing, passionate portrait of the plight women endured in Iran before the easing of strict Muslim law.

MILLENIUM MAMBO (Taiwan, 2001)

Vicky, engrossed by the narcissistic lifestyle of nightclubs and Ecstasy pills is torn between two men: her neurotic and jealous live-in boyfriend she resolves to break-up with as soon as she can drain $500K from their bank account and an enterprising gangster whose presence becomes both a source of trouble and a beacon of salvation.

KANDAHAR (Afghanistan, 2001)

This film follows an Afghani-Canadian woman as she attempts to enter Afghanistan in search of a despondent sister. Since it is illegal for a woman to travel alone, she must rely on the kindness--or curiosity--of strangers, including a scrappy boy and a mysterious American doctor. 7

NIGHT OF TRUTH (Africa, 2004)

The first ever sub-Saharan African feature directed by a woman, this award- winning debut takes place in an unnamed African country. The Nayak and Bonandé peoples, after a decade of genocidal conflict, have finally embarked on a path to peace and reconciliation. To bring the two sides together at last, the rebel commander invites the President and his troops to the rebel camp for a celebration. As the evening turns to night, the unbearable grief about the past threatens to turn the feast into a bloodbath.

ANGEL ON THE RIGHT (Tadjikistan, 2002) After 10 years in Moscow, broke thug Hamro returns to his native Tadjikistan village to tend to his dying mother Halima. Hamro realizes that he must sell her house and belongings as quickly as possible. His debts are long overdue and the townspeople are as tough as the big city crowd he now frequents. With mafia- types on his back for money, desperate Hamro will realize that a mother's love is sometimes the only thing a guy can count on. It's about time he started listening more to the angel on the right.

MARGARETTE’S FEAST (Brazil, 2002)

Margarette's Feast tells the incredible story of an Everyman who loses his job and comes into possession of a miraculous suitcase that never runs out of money. The results of the fantastic changes in his life mirror the conflicting social strains of contemporary Brazil.

NADA+ (Cuba, 2001)

Red tape muddles up the lives of people worldwide, but in Cuba it may reach more ludicrous extremes than in many other countries. Nada+ takes a comical look at Cuban bureaucracy, presenting us with a story of the fictional shenanigans that go on in a Havana post office. Carla is a bored young postal clerk who dreams of leaving the country to join her parents in Miami. In the meantime, she steals and rewrites letters in order to brighten the lives of their addressees, however briefly.

WOMEN’S PRISON (Iran, 2002)

This taboo-breaking film is based on long fieldwork among women prisoners in Iran. The film depicts the lives of Iran's lost generation in the two decades since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, using the claustrophobic life of women behind bars as a metaphor for the entire society.

TSOTSI (South Africa, 2005)

Tsotsi, a hooded, toughened gang leader in a Johannesburg shantytown, kills for money and beats his friend for challenging his dignity. When Tsotsi shoots a woman for her car and finds that he has unwittingly absconded with her baby, he is struck with a dilemma: what to do with the baby?

TURTLES CAN FLY (Iraq 2004)

The first film shot in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. About children struggling to survive in an endless war zone. On the Iraqi-Turkish border, enterprising 13-year-old Satellite is the de facto leader of a Kurdish village, thanks to his ability to install satellite dishes and translate news of the pending US invasion. Organizing fellow orphans into landmine-collection teams so that they can eke out a living, he is all business until the arrival of a clairvoyant boy and his quiet, beautiful sister.

CHILDREN OF HEAVEN (Iran, 1999)

Delightful tale of a brother and sister who share a pair of shoes when the boy (though no fault of his own) loses his sister's only pair. Since their parents are too poor to afford a new pair, they keep it a secret, trading them off every day in a mad rush, jumping gutters and navigating the twisting lanes to their schools and back. Then the boy hatches a plan: the third-place prize in a student footrace is a new pair of shoes, and he's determined to take it.

CITY OF GOD (Brazil, 2004)

Like cinematic dynamite, City of God lights a fuse under its squalid Brazilian ghetto, and we're a captive audience to its violent explosion. The titular favela is home to a seething army of impoverished children who grow, over the film's ambitious 20-year timeframe, into cutthroat killers, drug lords, and feral survivors. In the vortex of this maelstrom is L'il Z, self-appointed king of the dealers, determined to eliminate all competition at the expense of his corrupted soul.

THE HOLY GIRL (2004) In a dowdy hotel in Argentina, a small-scale morality play is unfolding: devout teenager Amalia determines to save the soul of the middle-aged man who inappropriately rubbed up against her in the street. He's a doctor visiting town for a conference, staying at the same hotel where Amalia lives with her mother. It gets complicated when Amalia's mother makes the doctor's acquaintance and finds herself attracted to him--without knowing about his dark little secret.

LA CIENAGA (Argentina, 2001)

Mecha is a middle-aged woman with several accident-prone teenagers, a husband who dyes his hair, and the tedious problem of sullen servants. Nothing that a few drinks can’t cure. To avoid the uncomfortably hot and humid weather, they spend their summers at a country estate whose glory has long faded, where the swimming pool is filthy, but still offers some relief. Mecha’s cousin, Tali, lives in the nearby city La Ciénaga ("The Swamp") and has a crew of small, noisy children and a husband who loves his home, his kids, and hunting. Before long, the crowded, rough-and-tumble domestic situation strains both families’ nerves, exposing repressed family mysteries, and tensions that threaten to erupt into violence. Like Luis Buñuel before her, award-winning filmmaker Lucrecia Martel offers an unapologetic peek into the world of Argentina’s decadent bourgeoisie.

MR. & MRS. IYER (India 2002) The movie Mr. & Mrs. Iyer is about a Muslim man & a Hindu woman & her child who are thrown together during a bus ride to Calcutta, India, that is halted by local religious riots.