MarkConnifer

A major theme of Mouannes’ “1982,” is the frenzied and confusing tragedy of friendships and innocence lost earlier than they should be. A major element of the plot is the friendship between Wissam, portrayed competently by Mohamad Dalli, and Majid, portrayed amiably by newcomer Ghassan Maalouf. We see their friendship overcome challenges and miscommunications and arguments over the girl Wissam likes, but in the end they both, as guys tend to do, make up and forget about it. However, by the end of the film, the strength of their friendship is rendered potentially tragically moot by the invasion. We see the boys split up as Majid’s mother picks him up to take him home, and they are separated but believe they will see each other again, though it is never made clear if that is really the case. This happens again when Joanna is told to leave her friend for the bus. The camera lingers and we never see her again. When Labaki’s character tells her coworker and former lover that she is not getting on the bus, she assures him that they, “Weren’t wasting time,” and, though she asks to be informed when he is home, it feels like a goodbye. During the exam, when the first kid is told to leave the classroom, he takes a long look at his classmates. It is likely this will be the last time that he sees many of them. While it is not confirmed that these characters died, the frenzied and hurried panic of a crisis is captured within “1982” accurately, and it not until after the fact that we evaluate the damages, a point in time not shown within the film, leaving these fates ambiguous. These children are forced to mature by this invasion. Many of their loved ones are unaccounted for and their childhoods are violently ended, yet the ending of the film, in a grandiose and spectacular fashion, offers a glimmer of hope that a spark of childlike wonder, of fun and joy, is not impossible to be recaptured. 

Kiss the Ground is a film for problem solvers. What bigger problem is there for us to solve at this very moment than the increasing temperatures of our climate? The directors Josh and Rebecca Tickell showcase multiple people who, on a smaller scale, are helping to reclaim carbon for the atmosphere as well as, hopefully, resultant of this film’s highlighting of them, set an example. One such example that will appeal to problem solvers is a family operated farm in California where they use cows natural grazing rather than over-tilling with machines (shown to actively kill soil) and it exhibits in great detail how they set up a grid system divided by fencing in order to make sure no plot is overgrazed, and by keeping the grass the cows are fed perfectly groomed and luscious, the cows, by eating this grass, end up themselves becoming much more nutritiously valuable meat. This is just one of perhaps a dozen figures and efforts the Tickells highlight exhibiting how the ability to make a change is not above any one person’s capability.