I just saw this documentary. Extraordinarily beautiful and interesting. So informative. The producer did a spectacular job covering a reality so few of us ever get to witness, how so many of the people who immigrate from the Middle East, do so because they are unemployed. This producer deserves multiple awards. He's amazing. I cannot say enough good things about it.
It did bring myriad specific thoughts to my mind, and these are just my opinions, and not by any means a synopsis of the documentary (which, again, is spectacular).
From what I saw on the documentary, Middle Eastern countries (Islamic ones) do not appear to provide unemployment benefits, as countries of the West do. It seems that these countries have no governmental welfare support systems to speak of, and apparently have never really had them. The poor and unemployed are at the inconsistent mercy of alms, donations, etc., This is probably a carry-over from their extremist religious beliefs that the poor should depend on alms. Highly inadequate if a country is ever going to succeed.
In watching the film, my thoughts strayed to the fact that the Middle East is an area stuck between the ancient Islamic past and the present. The rest of the world has left it behind because these countries choose to stay behind. Well actually, I really ought not say these countries choose to. There are many people in these countries who want to move ahead, but its religious extremists refuse to allow these countries to take even one step forward. I was struck in watching the film by how much influence extremist in- your-face religion can exert over a country and help to impoverish it.
I was shocked by the broadcasting of religion into the streets of cities via loudspeaker from the minarets of mosques. This isn't merely a few little bells chiming, either. This is an actual, unpleasantly super-loud broadcasting of prayer into everyone's car, home, life, an intrusion, an interference, whether the person is religious OR NOT. It denies freedom of religion to all Muslims, since not all people are (nor wish to be) religious. Apparently the loudspeaker broadcastings of religion to entire cities via loudspeaker began in the 1930s. Terrible thing for freedom.
I also was dumbfounded by something else. Here's this man (Ammar?) who is the central figure of the documentary, and who is suffering because he's unemployed. There is nothing unusual about unemployment. Unemployment is something that can and does happen to most of us regardless of where we live. Most of us have been there. And yet he's got, not one, but TWO WIVES to support! And EIGHT kids from the first wife! And (as if that were not enough), in the midst of his unemployment he's taking the second wife to a doctor for help to get her pregnant! It's shocking. You can't feed your family, and you're trying to get another woman pregnant?
