In the past I have occasionally used the premise of this film as an example of how I construe [philosophically] the meaning of “dasein”. But I suspect that even after watching this film there will still be any number of folks who just don’t “get” it. They will go on imagining that somehow who they are – who they think they are – has little or nothing to do with variables like this. Or they will remain convinced that, even if this might be a factor, there is still the “real me” buried down there beneath all of the existential layers. And that they are among those who have found their own “true self”.
But I suspect in turn this revolves in large part around an unwillingness to admit to themselve that even their own identity works this way. Why? Because the deeper you probe the roots [the nature] of identity “out in a particular world construed from a particular vantage point”, the closer they come to their own “dasein dilemma”.
Or, beyond the question of identity [point of view] itself, there is still the “one true way” that some will insist is the only way in which to encompass something like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In my view, no delusion is more firmly rooted in the human psyche than objectivism. We seem compelled to twist the narrative that is “I” into a much more solid “thing”.
Also, in some contexts, one might not be all that disturbed by the news there was a “mix up” in the hospital and you did not raise your own actual biological child. If, for example, it happened with my own daughter, I would not have felt any different toward her. But in this context being an Arab raised as a Jew or being a Jew raised as an Arab can be considerably more problematic. In other words, Mr and Mrs Al Bezaaz raised their Jewish son to be a Muslim and Mr and Mrs. Silberg raised their Arab son to be a Jew. So, 17 years later, what do they do, just switch them back? No, here the narrative is considerably more…enlightened?
But here the two families are relatively moderate; both families [within the context of their respective communities] are reasonably well-off. Which means many more [practical] options. Just imagine however if they were much closer to the militant [and generally more impoverished] factions. Or just imagine if they were in the midst of the actual war.
You think: Would that the world could really be like this.
And, ironically, in a round about way, Saddam Hussein was to blame for the mistake in the hospital. Or maybe even George H.W. Bush?
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Son
trailer: youtu.be/65Xk7_Jk0TA
THE OTHER SON [Le Fils de L’Autre] 2012
Written in part and directed by Lorraine Lévy
[b]Interviewer: An Arab enters a restaurant. What do you look at first?
Joseph: His eyes?
[interviewer says nothing]
Joseph: His waist?
Interviewer: Didn’t your father teach you this?
…
Orith [mother]: They made a mistake in your blood tests. They say you’re A+
Joseph: So?
Orith: You can’t be. Your father and I are A-. It’s the law of genetics.
…
Doctor: I had a hunch. I’m waiting confirmation.
Orith: What hunch?
Doctor: I’d rather…
Orith: What hunch?
Doctor: Stay calm, Orith.
Orith: I am. What hunch?
Doctor: That maybe Joseph isn’t your son.
…
Leïla: How will we tell our son?
Said: We won’t. Imagine if my sister found out. Or our friends. Neighbors. Forget everything we’ve heard.
Leila: Forget? You who complain that they forgot how they threw us off our land?
…
Bilal [to Yacine]: As you can see, our villages are still imprisoned… and our lands cut in two. A curse on those who stole from us![/b]
Of course he is telling this to a Jew. A Jew by birth. One of those he just cursed.
[b]Orith: The babies were switched when the hospital was being evacuated.
Joseph: So?
Orith: So there was a mistake, Joseph. The nurse made a mistake.
Joseph: You mean I’m the other one? And the other one is me?
[as the truth begins to dawn on him, Joseph bolts from the table and rushes out of the room]
Young sister: Will we have to give him back?
…
Orith: We’ve met his parents. They’re Palestinian. From the West Bank. You were born the same day as Yacine.
Joseph: Yacine? You’ve seen him?
Orith: A photo, yes.
Joseph: Yacine what?
Orith: Al-Bezaaz.
Joseph: I’ll have to swap my kippa for a suicide bomb.
Orith: Don’t ever say that!
Joseph: Am I still Jewish?
…
Rabbi: Orith told me your story, Joseph. I am sad for you.
Joseph: Rabbi, am I still Jewish? It doesn’t alter the fact that I’m Jewish, does it?
Rabbi: If you really want to be, you can be.
Joseph: What do you mean, “If I want to be”? I’m circumcised, I’ve had my Bar Mitzvah, I’ve studied at the yeshiva, celebrated festivals…I’ve always lived this way.
Rabbi: It’s a three-step conversion. Cicumscision. Acceptance of the Torah. That should be easy in your case. And immersion in a ritual bath, with 3 rabbis.
Joeseph: But Rabbi, you said I was one of your best students.
Rabbi: Judaism is not a belief, Joseph. It is a state. A spiritual state of being, tied to our own nature. Your real mother isn’t Jewish, so neither are you. Not yet.
Joseph: But I’m exactly as I was before.
Rabbi: God will help you in this conversion.
…
Joseph: What about the one I was swapped with?
Rabbi: He is Jewish. By his mother. By nature.
Joseph: You mean he is more Jewish than I am?
Rabbi [nodding his head]: That’s the way it is. That’s the way it is.
Joseph [aghast running from the room]: He’s Arab! He’s Arab![/b]
The absurdity of religion embodied. And/or let the rationalizations begin!
[b]Orith [on phone]: I’m sorry for calling you so late but Joseph would like to meet you. Have you spoken to Yacine?
Leila: No. I don’t know how to deal with his father.
Orith: Tell him it’s nobody’s fault, it’s just the way it is. It’s mektoub. It’s their life; they have a right to know.
…
Yacine [to his mother and father]: Find out? Find out what?
…
Leila: Said, Joseph is going to be a musician. He gets it from you.
…
Joseph: How did you feel when you heard?
Yacine: The same as you, I imagine. I’m trying to make sense of it all. So I don’t go under.
Joseph: Does Bilal know?
Yacine: He knows he has a brother and it isn’t me.
Joseph: Is that why he didn’t come?
[Yacine says nothing]
Joseph: He doesn’t want to come? Does he hate us?
Yacine: How’s it feel to be Palestinian? Do you feel hatred?
Joseph: No, really, I don’t.
Yacine: You never hated?
Joseph: No, You?
Yacine: I live in Paris. A long way away.
…
Alon: Joseph is an artist, not a soldier. Thankfully, he won’t do his military service.
Said: Why “thankfully”? Because he’s Arab?[/b]
Then the entire Israel-Palistinian conflict – the Occupation – is “debated” by them.
[b]Bilal [to Yacine]: Have fun with the occupying forces?
…
Bilal: Why not go live on the other side? Isn’t that where your home is now? Answer me! You’ve always been a Jew. Just go! Leave now!
Yacine: I’ll be whatever and whoever I like.
Bilal: Your the others’ son. Sooner or later you’ll go live there…where you should have grown up.
Yacine: Bilal. I know what you are afraid of. For me, nothing has changed. Especially our dream. In 8 years I’ll come back to Plaestine. We’ll build that hospital.
Bilal [angrily]: Why would you? For Firaz, who was never your brother?!
…
Joseph: If Leila hadn’t gone to Haifa, I’d be the one living over there. To you and to dad, I’d be a complete stranger.
Orith: Your father and I have loved you every second of your life. And although I worry about Yacine and can’t help thinking of him as my third child you’ll always be mine.
…
Yacine [about the money he made selling ice creams]: That’s a month salary for my dad. I told you he’s an engineer?
Joseph: I thought he was a mechanic?
Yacine: No, he’s an engineer. Only he’s not allowed to work outside his village.
…
Yacine [looking in the mirror at a reflection of him and Joseph]: Look. Isaac and Ishmael. Abraham’s two children.
…
Yacine: I’m my worst enemy, but I must love myself anyway. Don’t you ever think like that?
Joseph: Yes. Even as I’m smoking a joint with my worst enemy. Being Jewish was important. It meant something. Now it’s as if I didn’t exist. I can’t feel Jewish anymore. I don’t feel Arab either. What’s left?
…
Joseph [to Bilal]: If I had died, would I have been buried as an Arab or a Jew?
…
Yacine [voiceover]: You know what I thought when I learned that my life shoud have been yours? I thought, “Now I’ve started this life, I have to make a success of it so you’ll be proud of me.” Same goes for you. You have my life, Joseph.[/b]