>>PREVIEW
MICHAEL FRANTI
Thursday, March 30
Uptown Screen
There’s something spiritual about the title of Michael Franti’s first effort at documentary filmmaking, I Know I’m Not Alone. He presents the idea that longing for happiness, security and compassion is universal yet chronically overlooked by the powers that be, and he celebrates the comfort that exists in realizing that others have similar emotions, desires and aspirations.
It was this urge to discover how the rest of the world is coping in conflict situations that motivated the singer-songwriter and founder of progressive hip hop act, Spearhead, to travel to Iraq, Israel and Palestine with a guitar and a video camera.
After watching the bombs rain down on Baghdad nearly three years ago, he realized no one was asking how all the destruction was impacting the men, women and children on the ground. There was plenty of discussion about the economic and political impact, but little coverage of how the carnage has been impacting day-to-day life. He says all he could do was cry when he imagined what it must have been like for the people as their city was torn apart around them.
Franti’s desire to discuss the human cost of the war hasn’t won him many friends in Bush’s United States and he was saddened to discover his questions were considered a form of dissidence. He notes patriotism has become so blind, very few people will question the motives of the American administration in Iraq and elsewhere in the Gulf region.
"It’s been a scary time in America after 9/11, for those of us who want to raise our voices. There are times when I felt really alone in questioning the war," he says during a telephone interview from San Francisco.
He also notes the original reasons for going to Iraq have long since been dispelled, but the troops remain there and are in more danger than before.
"I think our reasons for going there are wrong," he says bluntly.
After talking with soldiers stationed in Baghdad, Franti says he could feel their frustration and understood that they were promised something that has never materialized.
"Those young men and women feel betrayed," he says.
For Franti, the need to give a voice to the unheard trumped his concern about his fellow Americans’ perceptions.
"As I travelled around to these places in the Middle East, I discovered there are millions and billions of people who want peace," he says, adding that the desire to achieve that end through dialogue and understanding, not smart bombs is more universal than we may think.
"They want peace through social justice," he says, noting the current way of dealing with delinquent nations isn’t furthering the path to harmony. "It’s not about killing off everybody who doesn’t agree with us."
Song has long been a means of breaking down cultural barriers, and Franti says he feels most at ease communicating through that channel.
"Music opens our hearts so we can see how we feel," he says.
After an afternoon of playing his guitar and connecting with people in the Gaza strip, Franti experienced first-hand how people who live in war zones really live each day. Wandering into the wrong area, he was shot at by Israeli troops.
"The fear that I felt at that moment was the same kind of distress and fear these people live with everyday," he says. "People in Israel live in fear of suicide bombers. People in Iraq live in fear of being shot at by American soldiers."
Travelling in a part of the world that has experienced little exposure to North American popular culture had its share of surprises for Franti and he says his dreadlocks were always a source of curiosity.
"They don’t have the cultural frame of reference for dreadlocks. They were baffled by me, for sure. They were stunned to find out I was from the U.S. and not Africa," he says, laughing.
Franti feels more compassion and connection than ever before and is planning a similar trip to Africa next year. If anything, Franti’s mission is to help rid us of our own egos and grasp the universal truths that tie us all together.
"I want people to have an understanding of and to develop compassion for other people. We should look beyond ourselves." |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.