Two interesting things of note.
The first was a conversation with a colleague, Jay G. He is a former entrepreneur interested in motivating other entrepreneurs to strive to become more socially and environmentally responsible. His idea is to create standards of practice for companies (like the CERES standards or Global Reporting Initiative standards in that they are for companies as a whole), but that act more like LEED standards, in that they are voluntary certification-like guidelines and operate through a self-nomination and licensing structure. The interesting part of it is that if you meet enough of the criteria, you get certified to use a logo, kind of like a UL-listing, that enables customers and other stakeholders to recognize you as a "B-corp," or a for-benefit corp. I think it's an ingenius way to get people to appreciate the kinds of amazing things companies can do behind the scenes, without getting bogged down in detail. They've also done some legal work to get some language used in corporate charters that would allow and actually force boards to consider social and environmental ramifications alongsided fiduciary obligations. They've been putting this together for over a year and are about to become incorporated as a 501(c)3. Good stuff all around. They're sending more info soon on their classification system. I can't wait.
My second substantive experience happened by accident. After dinner and a quick jaunt at the library to pick up a book on HOLD, I decided to stretch my legs and walk around downtown. Imagine my surprise to find a film festival just getting started and one ticket left to a documentary on Iraq that apparently was very popular at Sundance.
So, I bit. I bought the ticket and immersedd myself in thoughts about Iraq from 10 to midnight. The film was called Iraq in Fragments, and was a collection of three separate stories taken over several years, 2002-2005.
New York Magazine Review
Film Forum in NY's description:
"A stunningly photographed, poetically rendered documentary of Iraq today, seen through the eyes of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. James Longley's 3-part opus is a series of intimate, passionately felt portraits: a fatherless 11-year-old is apprenticed to a cruel owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rally for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the US presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied."
That sums it up well. There wasn't one overarching clear message. Except that maybe things are really a mess over there, for those trying to live their lives . Not very political and very little about our military, except in the footage, in which tanks and young american soldiers are sitting around in Baghdad, looking like time bombs waiting to explode. They look so ominous and dangerous, especially from the eyes of the boy in the first story. I had to keep reminding myself that most of them are farmboys from Kansas. But looking at the complicated culture they are sitting in, this notion is hardly reassuring. I am certain they are not trained to really understand these people at all. How sad.
I liked how this film puts you in the shoes of real people, made you go back and forth in your sympathies for them, and defies easy description. There were some interesting themes though. One was about fathers and sons. the first story was about a 11 year old boy (pictured at right) whose father was tortured and killed by Saddam, and who had to work to support his mother and aunt. His abusive boss became his new father figure, and his life was filled with so much instability he was doing the first grade for the 4th time, unable to read or write.
In the second story, the religious leader the filmmaker followed was the son of a much more famous leader. His father was fat and opinionated, but the son was lean, extremely articulate, and spent a lot of time behind closed doors as a democratic negotiator, urging the factions to come together and make sure their elections were democratic. I was totally in awe of their quiet grace (with a notable exception - public self-flagellation at group religious marches, to the point of some of the men being covered in their own blood, but I chalked that up to self-directed religious custom) . Until they took some merchants in the marketplace hostage with machine guns, abused them and held them blindfolded, all for selling alcohol in the market. No warning or anything.
The last story was the most bucolic and pastoral. The kurds are so grateful to Americans for keeping them from being systematically killed by Saddam, and this group lives so far in the countryside as to be unterrorized by the current American occupation. It was kind of the filmmaker to end with it, as it was easy on the spirit and easy on the eyes. The father wishes his son (who is blond and built and could be the next American hearthrob he is so goodlooking) could be more educated and have more opportunities than he did. The son feels obligations to keep the family business, sheep-tending and brick-baking, going. And we see he doesn't realize how lucky he is to be away from any city right now.There's a great page on the film's website with James Langley's production notes about what happened behind the scenes.
One other clear message: the next generation of Iraqis is going to be affected by our actions there for a VERY long time.
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