There Is Something in Forgiveness for Each of Us
In a surprisingly mesmeric documentary, filmmaker Helen Whitney explores the role and importance of forgiveness in the modern world. Expecting some new-agey, feel-good, self-help puffery, I was impressed by the depth of Forgiveness: A Time to Love and a Time to Hate, and totally absorbed in the tales it told.
Whitney presents a number of stories of people who need to forgive, can’t forgive, seek forgiveness, or learn to forgive, as well as the progress of two countries that are making atonement and reconciliation efforts: Germany and Rwanda. Various social and religious perspectives are considered, as she looks at the “new forgiveness,” or forgiveness movement, and its significance to individuals, communities, and society.
Among those profiled are a woman who was the victim of a horrific axe attack, a family torn apart when the mother moved 1200 miles away, a 1960s radical, and the daughter of a murdered policeman. The 2006 shooting at Nickel Mines schoolhouse and the immediate, unconditional forgiveness of the Amish are examined, along with commentary outlining the Jewish response.
Extensive German penitential efforts (regarding WWII atrocities) are analyzed, and Germans express their feelings about Germany, the Nazis, and President Reagan’s 1985 visit to Bitburg Cemetery (American reaction is also included). In Rwanda, where the Hutus exacted genocidal measures against the Tutsis only to have the tables turned, reconciliation is the goal, although political measures may be at odds with political thinking.
Forgiveness is an objective treatment of a somewhat thorny subject. While there may be a time to forgive, it is not the same for all of us. Just as there are those—like the Amish—who offer instant, unconditional forgiveness, there are those that nurse anger over things that happened two, 200, and 2000 years ago, not allowing themselves to forgive or move on. For many of us, granting forgiveness depends on atonement and penitence, and there are some things that are “unforgivable.”
Forgiveness attempts to answer “serious and complex questions” raised by the new role of forgiveness in the world, such as “Why is it in the air today as never before?” and “What does this say about us and the times we live in?” It is an intelligent, stimulating treatment of a social change that affects everyone, either on a personal level or as a citizen of Planet Earth.
Docurama Films releases Forgiveness: A Time to Love and a Time to Hate on DVD and digital, April 26, 2011.
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