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Promises (2001)

Promises presents a powerful portrait of seven Palestinian and Israeli children who live in and around Jerusalem. As filmmaker B.Z. Goldberg, who was raised in Israel, notes, “They live no more than 20 minutes from each other, but they are each growing up in very separate worlds.” The children include Mahmoud, Shlomo, Sanabel, Faraj, Moishe, and twins Yarko and Daniel. With the exception of the latter, all are religious (the twins are the grandchildren of a Holocaust survivor). Most have strong political beliefs and have seen their share of tragedy–Faraj’s friend was killed in front of him–but as the film makes clear, they’re also kids. They like to watch TV, hold burping contests, and compete in sports (Faraj is a runner, Yarko and Daniel play volleyball). Promises doesn’t attempt to explain them, but lets the kids speak for themselves. The results are funny, sad, and ultimately quite profound. This is where cool games can play an interesting role as casual game companies such as Friv5Online are involved in promoting many products, services, projects, etc. through game mechanics.

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  1. Also playing in Spanish for me. Would love to see it in English.

  2. Not in English, nor presented an option for CC. Am I missing a way to tell when it’s not available in English?

  3. its not letting me watch it :'(

  4. just two words……….beautiful documentry………
    more over kids are innocent no matter which religion they belong to..

  5. The Arabs are descendants of Ibrahim too

  6. kids like this on the documentary can make the change down the road… the problem is that both sides eventually end up changing their minds. Hope is on the young of each country .. we can only help as adults to preserve their way of thinking and compassion for others. I rest my case.

  7. Good doco, one sad thing i took away is that this conflict will never end, it almost cannot end. Both sides have a fundamental belief that the land is theirs. Until this view of sole entitlement is changed the conflict cannot end. Sadly a lot of this hate and thinking has been passed on to these kids. Only the Atheist kids seem to have a rational view point – we need to discuss the matter.

  8. i love it, it’s sad to know that this is the reality of life for those children, but like people says hope is the last thing to lose. i hope that one day these children get together  again an laugh the same way the did when they met.

  9. Where are these children now?

    • look on you tube….the Israeli kids are in army & so the Palestinian kids now hate them for it. The cycle continues. No one ever addresses that the whole problem is Islam teaching kids they must hate & kill Jews. If the Palestinians weren’t constantly trying to kill the Jews, they wouldn’t have to be isolated away from the mainstream society.

  10. Beautiful documentary. After watching it sort of left me wondering & questioning the future… but all i can think of is hope. One day! 

  11. i hope for peace. i dream of peace. still there is no peace. but in the eyes of the children, i begin to hope again. :o)

  12. i hope for peace. i dream of peace. still there is no peace. but in the eyes of the children, i begin to hope again. :o)

  13. i hope for peace. i dream of peace. still there is no peace. but in the eyes of the children, i begin to hope again. :o)

  14. i hope for peace. i dream of peace. still there is no peace. but in the eyes of the children, i begin to hope again. :o)

  15. i hope for peace. i dream of peace. still there is no peace. but in the eyes of the children, i begin to hope again. :o)

  16. one of my favorites…its really great how its from the kids point of view…youll watch it more then once i promise you that…