Shadow of the Future

Analysis / Interpretation / Press

Schatten der Zukunft (1985)
Alternate title: Shadows of the Future
Review Summary
The emotional and psychological toll of the never-ending Palestinian-Israeli conflict is examined in this hard-hitting documentary by Wolfgang Bergman. Bergman interviews an Israeli woman living in Berlin whose Jewish parents permanently immigrated to Israel. She differs with them in their attitudes toward Israel's past treatment of the Palestinians, and when her father is interviewed, he makes some concessions to the Palestinians but is upset by his daughter's viewpoints. A Palestinian man living in Munich is also interviewed; he is a success as a computer expert and after 14 years clearly has no intention of returning to live in the Middle East. His family misses him and asks why he has not come back home -- even though they are proud of his accomplishments. Germany's attitude toward the Jews before, during, and after the war is compared to Israel's attitude toward the Palestinians -- like the Native Americans, a people displaced from their homeland and forced to live in the Middle East counterpart of a reservation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
Source: ovies/movie/227655/Schatten-der-Zukunft/overview