West Bank Story

Sadly enough this will be my last blog post.  To end on a high note, let me talk a little about this awesome musical. 

Israel has been a site of violence as conflict and strife between two opposing people that claim possession over the same land.  Vicious violence on one side leads to retaliation on the other. A brutal cycle of retaliation has kept the nation in turmoil for generations. With a strong Christian demographic (and some slightly misguided theology) the U.S. has shown favor with the Jewish people of the nation. Whenever tension arises we'll exclude the Jewish people from any blame and instead villainize the Palestinians.

 I believe the blame is often on both sides.  This musical goes to show exactly that.  Instead of taking favor with one side the movie makes fun of both sides in congruent proportions.  It shows how quickly both parties are to shift blame the other side, how irrational their hatred is for the other side, and how ridiculous the cycle of revenge can be.

I'm not a fan of musicals.  Typically I find them obnoxious and boring. Not this one.  I believe a witty musical like this is the best (if not the only) medium capable of portraying a message like this.  The setting is comical enough to be disarming to keep the public open-hearted, but at the same time realistic enough to address some of the actual problems at hand.

In the end both sides have to put aside their differences and unite under the same goal: the people need fed. Reminds me of the ending to Don't Mess With The Zohan.  Terrible movie.  Don't watch it unless you're a fan of terrible movies like me.  I thought about attaching a clip from that movie, but I thought I'd preserve as many brain-cells in my readers as I can.  Instead here is a song by Tim Minchin discussing how peace can be acheived if both sides would unite under their similarity.