Talking to the Children

In the no man's land between the Muslim and Jewish Quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem, a burping contest between two boys begins. Shlomo, an ultra-orthodox Jewish boy, says he doesn't know any Arabs and has no real interest in meeting them. A young Palestinian boy comes over to check out the scene. Standing right next to Shlomo, he lets out a burp. Shlomo tries hard to ignore him, but he can't resist and burps back. The two burp themselves into giggles.

This burping contest appears in Promises, which chronicles the lives of seven Israeli and Palestinian children, ages nine to thirteen, living in and around Jerusalem. First-time filmmakers B.Z. Goldberg and Justine Shapiro, along with co-director and editor Carlos Bolado, shot the documentary between 1997 and 2000, in the comparatively peaceful period between the first and second intifadas.

More a drama than a documentary, Promises visits an ultra-orthodox Jewish school and a school where the Koran is taught as a manifesto for Palestinian liberation. It goes into homes in the Deheishe refugee camp and Beit-El, an Israeli settlement. In a world without checkpoints, these children would live in the same community, just a twenty-minute drive from each other. But as it is, they are a society apart. Their differing perspectives, and their interactions, give the film its poignancy.