A number of years ago, I met an extremely vivacious and charismatic woman, who in her youth had been tortured by the Greek junta. She provided me with the inspiration to make a film, which would focus on the questions that her story raised: How do you cope with starvation, imprisonment and torture without both body and soul suffering permanent damage? Do you wish for vengeance at any cost, or is it possible to forgive and believe in possibility of reconciliation? How would I have managed in the same terrible situation?
The project began to take shape, and after a period of planning, we touched down in Cape Town on the 11th of September, 2001 to start filming our interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Yet the events coincidentally taking place in the U.S.A. placed the whole film in relief. For whilst CNN sent its message of vengeance out to the world, I found myself surrounded by a people, who after having suffered countless acts of violence and murder, supported the idea of reconciliation. Given this situation, could my own thoughts about reconciliation possibly be realized as a film project, or was this just wishful thinking? Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who led the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, assured me that reconciliation is the right way, and when asked about the suffering of his people, he chose to repeat his wry and often quoted statement, "We were given the bible, and asked to close our eyes in prayer, and when we opened our eyes, we had the bible, but they had the land yet the bible is revolutionary, and helped us to victory." Yet I also saw a tired, old man, bearing the marks of someone, who had seen and heard too much; a person who had buried too many of his countrymen, and who now admitted anger against those who had caused his family's suffering. Acts of violence, which he knows are minor when compared to many others.
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