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Surprisingly incoherent and boring

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Absolutely brilliant documentary which would likely end up in my top 10 documentary films of all time. The best of these documentaries I find are ones where the camera is simply pointed and amazing things begin to happen. This is the complete opposite of editorial documentaries which take an issue and tell us what to think about it. Those movies can at times be quite good as well (Food Inc., Supersize Me) but I don't think they compare to documentaries like "Promises" and "Harlan County USA" Promises is about Palestinian and Israeli children. Surprise, surprise, they're not all that different. They like sports, their friends, some of their subjects in school. They're also both exposed to a huge amount of propaganda.The brilliant part of the documentary is when the filmmaker suggests two of the Israeli boys meet one of the Palestinian boys. They all share a love for sports so it makes perfect sense. When it happens the filmmaker just runs the camera and the boys act like boys. It's amazing because the boys realize everything they've been told by their parents, the government and their religious leaders is bullshit.The updates aren't as promising and it's suggested that it's up to the next generation to bring peace to this region. But I think it also shows that despite this experience these boys have, some of them fall into old habits anyway. The twins in the movie end up joining the Israeli military.I think it suggests that it takes extremely strong people in these climates to overcome the kind of propaganda they're facing from the time they're born. To oppose Palestine or Israel if you lived there would essentially make you and outcast.

Well, I saw this movie, recently and was pleasantly surprised at the integrity of the presentation. This movie did a wonderful job presenting the struggle/conflict from the perspective of the children being interviewed. Having spent time working with Palestinian children in Ramallah (10 miles north of Jerusalem), I found myself recalling many, very similar, conversations with other children. What this movie reminded me of was the sincerity of these children as they spoke their impressions, as though they were fact.While I could not possibly keep track of all the incorrect statements being made by both sides (Israeli and Palestinian) within this movie... if the viewer is able to appreciate that the children are often simply repeating a mantra they have been trained in by the adults in their lives, the viewer can utilize this movie to learn more about the culture of this conflict.While interviewing the settler boy, we saw the hardness of his heart toward the Palestinians. We can supposed that he has learned this from his parents or other in his life. The movie does show a teaching session that the Palestinian children go through at a school of some kind. I was not surprised to see the strong political views being taught to the children. These kinds of tactics, which I viewed as well, while I was there, always seemed to be the best kind of introduction to a presentation for the PLO or Hamas recruitment. And I am sure that many of the Jewish kids receive a similar style of education. It is a sad story watching these kids being bred to mistrust one another.What I liked even more was the "DVD Extra" where 5 of the 7 kids were interviewed in the summer of 2004. I was surprised to hear the Palestinian girl say she was upset at the "twins" joining the IDF. Apparently, they never teach the kids there that the IDF soldiers service is mandatory. This was just another example of poor understanding of the other side, from both sides.I don't consider this movie completely unbiased... but it does do a good job, trying to present both sides of this conflict and the affect it has on the lives of the kids growing old through it. If you have an opportunity to watch it, don't pass it up.

After seeing this movie, I had to sit and think about my view of Israel/Palestine and Arab terrorists in general. The US supports Israel. Israel has made Arabs/Muslims third class citizens w/ zero rights and zero say. To leave their own town, they have to enter checkpoints, get searched and are usually denied access anyway. They are treated like we treated the Blacks. The blacks rebelled and gained freedom. The Arabs rebel because of their injustice in anyway they can (exactly like the blacks did!) and we support their oppressors(Israel)? Not only do we stand behind them, we HELP them do it. Bin Laden attacked the US in response to his anger at the US, which was in his eyes (and the entire Arab world), a BIG Israel. I had NO idea things were that bad in Israel/Palestine. The West Bank and Gaza strip fiasco makes the whole "blacks in the back of the bus" seem trivial. Which makes me wonder that if more people knew what was REALLY happening, would we hate Iraq/Afghanistan as much as we do? Did the Southern white plantation owners despise the blacks for rebelling? You bet your bippy they did. And after seeing this movie, I feel America has become the Southern Plantation Owner to the world, keeping the Arabs in their "proper place" in order to support Israel. I need to read about this some more, because I feel I've been cheated for years and not getting the whole story. Kind of like the Khmer Rouge, Rwanda and now Sudan....As a documentary, the story was flawless. I got angry at one of the Jewish Youths (Yanko?) for changing his view completely. After seeing the other side, feeling for them, and wanting to help make a change, he became part of the problem. He became flippant and uncaring. One of the Muslim girls, who became good friends with him, was explaing how upset and shocked she was when he joined the military. Her brother was arrested just for being an Arab and was in prison. The Jewish boy said he may have been the one who arrested him, he didn't know, and didn't seem to care either. This movie made more of a statement than Fahrenheit 911 or Bowling for Columbine did for the main reason that is wasn't even trying to. I'm not sure if anyone else got the same feeling from this movie as I did, but besides making me question my entire viewpoint, it was a fantastically filmed documentary. It didn't win the Oscar, but I don't know who it was running against. I rate this movie 4 marbles out of 4.

"Promises" is a feel-good sort of film -- far too easy for my taste, and not a good documentary. More like an opinion piece or a film essay. It's basically the "liberal" Israeli perspective -- the perspective that says "Well, wouldn't it be nice if we could all just get along?" without addressing the basic relationship between Israelis and Palestinians, which is embodied in the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This film essentially treats the Palestinian and Israeli characters as if they are on an equal footing, having a healthy ideological debate. The reality is, of course, far different.If you want a more realistic portrayal of what is going on in the minds of Palestinians, and the situation that they face on a daily basis, I would recommend seeing "Gaza Strip" (2002) which is much more of a verite, unscripted piece of solid documentary work. "Gaza Strip" doesn't cover the Israeli perspective, but it does provide a much deeper picture of the Palestinians than "Promises". Also, "Promises" was filmed almost entirely before the start of the current Palestinian uprising, so it tends to paint what is already an out-of-date picture. The two films would complement each other, I think.