Garden (2003)(AKA Gan)
As long as there are gay and lesbian
film festivals and as long as documentarians can pick
up a cheap camera and hit the streets, there will
be films about street kids. And, in many ways, "Garden"
is no different than any other documentary about young
male prostitutes in any Urban American city. But what
makes it different is not only that it is set in Tel
Aviv and features an Arab-Israeli boy and a Palestinian
boy who are close friends, but also because it is
features one of the most compelling, heart-breaking
and beautiful friendship between two teenage boys
ever captured on film.
Nino is from a good family but has
left his homeland and moved to Tel Aviv. I don't quite
understand all the politics of how he got where he
is but as the film unfolds, we see his mischievous
side and his all-consuming need to party and have
fun and it soon becomes obvious how he got out on
the streets. Dudu, meanwhile, is an Arab-Israeli whose
home we know very little about. We can only assume
he is out on the streets for the obvious reason: He
was kicked out for being either a junkie or a homosexual
or both. A wise old Jewish person trapped in a 18
year-old street hustlers boy, Dudu astounds us with
his maturity at times.
Throughout the film Dudu whines,
moans, cajoles and complains to Nino in an effort
to help him straighten up his act. Nino has landed
in a reformatory and is often tempted to runaway.
Dudu at times talks to his friend like a much older
mentor, a father or older brother. You can tell that
Nino respects his friendship with Dudu and knows that
his mate is right. Nino works hard to get through
the system and get back out into the real world. Meanwhile,
Nino finds himself playing the adult role with Dudu
when it comes to heroin. He yells at his friend and
tells him he will have nothing to do with him if he
shoots up ever again. Watching these two boys, with
literally nothing but each other, trying to help the
other survive and make it is fascinating stuff.
The boys, when they aren't in jail
or in the hospital or squatting in some horrid abandoned
building, are usually to be found at "Gan," "the Garden,"
the local park in Tel Aviv where throwaways, runaways,
transvestites, street hustlers and drug addicts all
gather. Nino and Dudu often make money turning tricks
with men who drive by in cars and pick them up. Not
surprisingly, the only vision we get of any of the
men is a disgusting pedophile who tries to help Nino
but cannot keep his hands of him.
The end of "Garden" is the most
astounding and devastating moment in the film. The
two boys sit in the dark in "Gan" and looks at each
other, frustrated and empty. "When will we get to
live our lives," asks one.
"When God dies," is the reply. It
is followed by a silence and a stillness that deafens.
Note:
In Hebrew and Arabic with English
subtitles.
Filmed by Ruthie Shatz and Adi Barash.
Viewed
at Agliff in Austin 2004.
