Our Annual Altoona International Jewish Film Festival got off to a great start with last Thursday’s foreign film, The Other Son. We learn that eighteen years ago an Israeli was accidentally switched at birth in a Tel Aviv hospital with a Palestinian infant. As Joseph prepares to enter the Israeli army, his parents are informed that their son’s blood work reveals that Joseph cannot be their biological child. Rather, their child has been raised with another family as a Palestinian in the West Bank. The Other Son explores the complex issues of birthright, identity, and the role of environmental factors that define individuals, families, and communities. In addition to untangling this new complex relationship that has been thrust upon two families, the additional layer of Israeli and Palestinian conflict makes this film especially thought provoking, as well as entertaining.
Of course, the story of children switched at birth, as well as the issues that unite us and divide us, are well played out in books and movies. In The Other Son, we see two young men and their families struggle with this horrible situation on a personal level. We see this struggle of two families forcibly united by their sons played out on two sides of a wall that divides. We see each family cross this wall guarded by soldiers. We see two views of life separated by this physical barrier, but we also come to learn there is a greater barrier for each family member to make sense of this new reality. The greater barrier is the wall that that exists in the hearts and the minds of each son and their family members.
It is only when this internal wall is brought down, that Joseph, Yassin and their families can try to make sense of their current situation and move forward for a happy and productive future. Perhaps, this is a lesson for all to consider.
I hope you will join us for our three remaining films on February 27th, March 6th and March 13th. I know you will be entertained and provided food, as well as thought. My congratulations to our Film Festival Committee led by Len Zimmerman, and our Executive Director Bill Wallen, for our 15th year of films that bring us inspiration, humor and education.