Treatment
The film begins with a montage of
New York's crazy quilt of religious and ethnic communities as we explore the
role of religious faith (or lack of religious faith) in people's lives. This
introduction illustrates how the sustenance some people gain from their
beliefs can also serve, in a multiethnic city, to drive people apart.
Utilizing the structure of the original play, the film takes its audience on
a journey that begins with a playful and thought-provoking introduction to
the three religions and the idea of religious faith and conflict. "In
middle school, I started questioning a lot," remembers one young woman,
"because you're thinking about boys and then all of a sudden my parents are
like, 'No, we don't date. That's not part of our religion." A man explains,
"I grew up Black, Catholic, and gay, so forget about it!"
The film follows the creators of
Same Difference as they
interview Muslims, Jews, and Christians to shed light on the meaning of the
symbols, rituals, and theology of the three religions. We layer rich visual
images with interviews and dramatized monologues from the play to explore
issues such as interfaith dating, conversion and tolerance. We illustrate
the tentativeness with which people of different faiths often approach one
another. "There was a woman in the neighborhood who had heard me greeting
people with our Islamic greeting 'A salaam aleikem' which means, 'Peace Be
With You,' explains one woman. One day she finally asked what the heck I
was saying. After I explained she said, 'Ohhhh! this whole time I thought you
were saying 'salmon and bacon, salmon and bacon.'"
As the film continues, the actors' voices are inter-cut with
historical and contemporary images as we descend into violence and chaos,
the product of the often-insurmountable tensions between the three great
faiths. The scenes that course across the screen will be drawn from ancient
illustrations, archival footage and contemporary images from today's
headlines. "The whole dynamic between the African American and the Jewish
American community has always been very touchy," explains one man. 'What you
are dealing with are two psychologically traumatized people. They are
hyper-sensitive to everything." A woman plaintively explains, "American
culture, western culture. These things that I think are so rich and
wonderful, I'm aware are profane in the eyes of Muslims and certain
Islamists." This portion of the film culminates in the catastrophe of 9/11
brought about by an act of absolute hatred, the fierce and angry reactions
it provoked among the different faiths, and the attempts by each to come to
terms with the disaster. In the Muslim community, in particular, this meant
dealing with widespread arrests and detentions as well as the fear of
deportation.
After its
fiery last section, the play concludes in a reaching out, an acceptance of
one another's differences and the beginning of a kind of reconciliation,
poignantly illustrated by the history of B'nai Jeshurun synagogue and The
(Methodist) Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, whose members created
Same Difference. (The director
of the proposed documentary attends B'nai Jeshurun.)
After the
synagogue's roof caved in a decade ago, the Methodist congregation opened
its doors and sanctuary to the Jewish congregants. Our cameras visit the
Church that is a home to the two congregations.
We see a
Friday night Jewish Sabbath service that dissolves to a Sunday morning
Methodist service in the same sanctuary as a minister's voice explains that
"in 1991, the city was
really divided. The month we got together the
Crown Heights riots happened. It
was kind of a low point of interfaith and interracial relations in NYC. For
that reason, it got a lot of attention. It was inspiring for a lot of people
outside of us. I've gotten letters from people all over the country saying
how important this was. In the mid-1990s, the Christian and Jewish
congregations reached out to the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood to create an
interfaith trialogue.
With the events of 9/11 these long-standing efforts at
interfaith reconciliation were redoubled, leading to the creation of
Same Difference. As we explore
its origins with the creative team, congregants, ministers, rabbis and imams
of these sister institutions, we are exploring the ongoing legacy created by
the events of a decade ago which brought these congregations together. A
member of B'nai Jeshurun reflects, "I'm Jewish but I love that church. It
feels to me like home. The fact that I could love a church and know it's not
mine, and it feels like home, it makes me certain that there's a larger
world out there and we can't just live in a vacuum."
In its final
section, the film documents the impact of the outreach efforts of
Same Difference's
producers, exploring the interfaith work that has grown out of the play
including the Cordoba bread Project where the three faiths will come
together to break bread and talk and an Interfaith Passover Seder, both
designed to foster communication and long term relations among the three
faiths. Finally, we will videotape two or three performances at other
institutions, such as a high school and a mosque. We ask these audiences as
well as our actors and other New Yorkers to reflect on their thoughts about
the city's (and country's) future in the wake of 9/11, potential war in
the Middle East and the ongoing war against terrorism.
To view the completed SAME DIFFERENCE film trailer, you can watch it in two parts on YouTube OR view the entire trailer at http://vimeo.com/7826275
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