Strangers No More

It isn't often I get hopeful about the future, especially education and possibilities for underprivileged kids, but STRANGERS NO MORE is truly inspirational. I hope this well-made documentary gets consideration in the upcoming Oscar race.

We are presented with a school year at Bialik-Rogozin School in Tel Aviv, focusing on the progress of half a dozen students, and showing in the process the caring, "go the extra mile" attitudes of the faculty and staff.

Principal student covered is Johannes, an Eritrean refugee by way of Sudan. At age 12 he's had zero schooling and is painfully shy, let alone unable to communicate in either Hebrew or English at the school. We see his transformation, learning Hebrew, getting fitted with eyeglasses (a true necessity) and eventually serving as an interpreter in the Tigrit language to a newly admitted student later in the year. It's amazing and impressive progress.

His dad is also featured, a mild-mannered guy who just wants to make a living and support his family. When he meets with the principal Karen Tal to help him through the red tape to secure a work visa, he comments in halting English that he's come here (from Eritrea/Ethiopia and later a Sudan refugee camp) to escape finally from war and violence, and Tal kindly reminds him, hey - Israel is right in the middle of it! Political issues such as the ongoing/never-ending Israeli/Palestine struggle are not alluded to specifically in the film, since that is not what it's about. As the title suggests, it is about making a true melting pot (I live in New York City, the symbolic world melting pot of sorts) where foreigners can be integrated into a true community and given new chances for self-realization. For K-12 education, clearly this school is a role model.

Other key players, with winning stories, include Mohammed from Darfur, and the lovely Esther (with a movie star smile) from South Africa, both of whom qualify for the "Most Likely to Succeed" caption under their photos in a high school yearbook. Far more than the expected B'nai B'rith campaign film, STRANGERS carries a universal message.

I interpreted this look at a multi-ethnic school in Tel Aviv to mean that deep down, we're all the same. Race is a social construct; in reality we're all human. "Strangers No More" won the 2010 Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. I've never heard of Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon, but I'd like to see more of their work now. Seeing a documentary about a school whose students come from 48 different countries will do that to you.

However, there was something missing. Someone should have addressed the conflict with Palestine. It's good that Israel has a school that caters to people from all over the world, but what do these students think of the whole Israel-Palestine thing? If they're moving to Israel, they must have an opinion about it.

Otherwise it's a good documentary.

Strangers No More (2010)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar-winning documentary short takes a look at a school in Tel Aviv that is the home to students from more than forty-eight different countries. Throughout the forty-minute running time we see the struggles that the teachers must go through to teach them as well as see the issues these kids have coming to school. STRANGERS NO MORE is a very good movie, although I'm not quite certain I'd call it Oscar-worthy. Either way, I think film buffs (and fans of the genre) should find it entertaining because it's a pretty wild story and the difficulties in doing what these teachers do just seem to be so challenging that not many people would even attempt it. Some of the most heartbreaking scenes deals with a student who recalls seeing his father and grandmother murdered. This here leads to some scenes where students come to the school for the very first time, are running from dangers or perhaps they have their own fears that must be dealt with while at the same time trying to teach them. The film is certainly very uplifting and gives one hope that if you do try for something, no matter the odds, with a lot of work you can pull it off.

I'm glad PlanktonRules enjoyed this charming documentary. But I was puzzled by his/her comment that 'despite being in Israel, the school is open to all religions, ethnicities and nations.' What sort of country does he/she think Israel is? Israelis come from almost every corner of the earth, from all over Europe and America, from Africa, from almost every Muslim country, from Russia. It's actually the most ethnically and religiously diverse country in the Middle East and beyond. It's important to stress this because the school emerges precisely out of this welcoming attitude and this ability to create a unifying culture out of so many. The little boy who could not speak Hebrew is far from the first. It was because so many Jews spoke so many languages that it was decided to revive Hebrew as a spoken language, and the Israeli achievement in doing so is inspiring.