One of the most powerful social tools at our disposal is art because art has a voice, at least in our urban New York society. At MoMA, I had the chance to watch a short film shot in Afghanistan. At what appeared to be a co-American and Afghan alliance for serving a hot lunch to the community, there was an outdoor sort of “soup kitchen” where people waited on line for some food then went to sit down at park-like picnic tables. Out of nowhere, in the midst of individuals enjoying their lunch, shots were fired; and, the whole place cleared out in about a minute, save the American armed forces shooting back at the perpetrators.
What was so moving about the piece was that it portrayed the Afghans accurately…as people, like us. There was one clip shot outside of a building with an older Afghan man and a young American soldier. The Afghan man was asking the American soldier various questions, such as if he was married. When he answered that he was not married, the man asked if he at least had a girlfriend, to which he also answered no. Plus, he had no children. This cracked the man up. Another scene showed a group a Afghans and a couple of armed American soldiers talking about either soccer or volleyball. Although hesitantly reluctant at first, the soldiers agreed to play the sport with the other young men.
My two friends and I left that room, and all I was able to repeat was, “Man, that was heavy.” One of my friends likened the war to the lesser of two evils. Which is worse, to allow a country to be severely abused by an inhumane dictator, or cause extra attention and warfare by entering “the enemy’s” territory? (This is not to say that the country is the enemy; it is not. The group that our troops are fighting simply resides there). This is one of the complications of war. Where do we stand? What are our boundaries? How can you engage on a personal level with some citizens while grasping a machine gun in case another shoots at you? I do not understand war. I do understand the potential that lies in an artist’s craft to influence others, though.
The impact of a short film can put a viewer in the shoes of the characters so well and create feelings in the viewer so accurately. A film has the power to make a point without narration or explanation. This particular film is also controversial– who is the bad person in it? Perhaps the point is to distinguish between the bad “people” and the bad “sides.”
However, I also think an important part about this film that Karissa was able to see is its effort to simply create awareness. Thank God that the war is not in the United States, but as a result, people are forgetting about it and do not understand the reality of it. This film-this art-has taken upon itself the power to bring the war to life in a way that encourages people to open their eyes.
The extent and consequences of war are nearly impossible to understand. We can read stories of front-line soldiers, pour over research on post-traumatic stress disorder, or analyze data of post-war economies. But we will never have a definite grip on the umbrella of repercussions war has on humanity. Exhibits, such as this one at the MOMA, let us glimpse at first-hand accounts of war’s aftermath.
Rosemarie mentioned that the awareness this film generates is one of its most important aspects. Often, when we sit at home on our living room couches, or in in our school desks, it is so easy to forget the thousands of soldiers who risk their lives for our country or have been injured in our battles. But we are reminded of them. Memorial Day comes around once a year and so many Americans, unfortunately, can share personal accounts of war’s backlash. But how often are we reminded of the war’s other set of victims? When do we meet a young Middle Eastern boy who can tell us what it feels like to be an innocent native on Afghanistan’s streets? Art has become the only way most Americans can begin to fathom the conditions civilians in other countries live with each day as they walk past tanks on the way to school or into houses to escape air raids.
In another post I explored the art produced throughout history as a result of warfare on Spanish towns, namely Goya’s The Third of May,1808 The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid (1814) and Pablo Picasso’s Guerinca (1937). When peasants were lined up and murdered in Goya’s town and bombs exploded Picasso’s little Spanish village, theses artists turned to their canvases to show the world war’s atrocities. A tapestry copy of Guerinca even hung in New York City’s UN building until 2009. Interestingly, when Colin Powell and John Negroponte gave press conferences there on February 3, 2003, a large blue curtain was placed in front of the tapestry, which they claimed was to satisfy the television crews who complained of the busy backdrop. However, many journalists and diplomats have agreed that the Bush Administration pressured UN officials to cover the tapestry while Powell or other U.S. diplomats argued for war on Iraq, a clear example of art’s potential power over society.