Another Road Home (NR)

synopsis

Shortly after the Six-Day War in 1967, Danae's Jewish parents, the famous author Amos Elon, and former literary agent Beth Elon, hired Musa Obeidallah, the Muslim father of eleven children, to take care of their 6-month-old daughter. Musa commuted from Palestine to his job in Jerusalem for the next twenty years, until Danae moved to New York to study at NYU Film School. Education was also on Musa's mind. With the money he earned, he sent his sons to study and make their careers in America. Against the mounting tensions of the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Intifada, the two families lost track of each other for ten years. During this time, Danae realized how much of an influence Musa had on her, and that she needed to revisit her past and find this remarkable man. Danae's chronicle takes her from her current home in New York, to an Arab-American neighborhood in New Jersey, to the Palestinian village of Battir in the occupied territories, and back to her birthplace in Jerusalem. The film confronts frictions and affections shared by Danae and Musa's sons; between the Obeidallah family and the Elon family; and between Danae and her parents. Exploring the delicate boundaries between family, class and politics Danae Elon illuminates not only the troubled political heritage shared by these two families, but also a hope for a future in her quest to find "Another Road Home."