By: Stuart Adelberg
Last weekend, I was once again reminded how quality cinema surpasses mere entertainment and delivers lessons that go well beyond any filmmaker’s subject. I often share details about excellent films, but I write today with the hope that it is the lessons, as opposed to the story, that stay with you.
The film I was privileged to see, of course, at the beautiful and historic Avon Theatre, is called The Human Factor. The recently released documentary recounts years of negotiations intended to end the Arab Israeli Conflict. One fact that I did not know, is that there was a team of committed and skilled American envoys who played major roles in these efforts through multiple US presidencies. They were key players in both historic successes and disappointing failures and this film is essentially their story.
The Human Factor is rife with fascinating details of what went on behind the scenes through years of negotiations, events that contributed to breakthroughs and those that resulted in breakdowns. If Middle East peace is a subject that interests you, the film does not disappoint. But there is much that I believe our own divided nation can learn from this film, beyond the dramatic events that even today make peace in that part of the world so elusive.
At the beginning of the film, one of the mediators offers a simple lesson about the art of negotiation. He says – paraphrased in my words – that a deal in which one side wins and the other loses will never stand. Successful deals only occur when each side walks away with a victory.
One of the primary lessons, learned multiple times in the Mideast peace processes, is that it is a fatal mistake not to begin with an articulated agreement on what the end will ultimately look like. There were several examples of promising, interim deals made that eventually fell apart, because the two sides were not working toward the same goal. In fact, at one point it is noted by an envoy, that one side was negotiating for their vision of the future, while the other was focused on the past. In my simple terms, you and I may enjoy a Sunday drive in the same vehicle, but if my destination is east and yours is west, eventually we are going to need another car!
The most important lesson I took from this film is evident from the title. While ideas and events all matter – people are the driving force behind any true compromise or lack thereof. Honest negotiations on issues of substance cannot occur until the people on both sides see and treat each other as human beings, find some common goal, and recognize, even in bitter disagreement, that both sides have valid concerns. When we view those with whom we disagree as unworthy, unreasonable villains, we should not be surprised by the absence of any meaningful progress.
At the conclusion of this film, I was moved by the genuine commitment of the mediators and the simplicity and sincerity of their message, yet despondent that so many efforts over so many years had failed to bring about lasting peace. And I sadly saw too many parallels to our country’s current woes. America is divided not by disputed borders, but by disagreements about who we are and who we wish to be. If we truly want to find solutions that can be accepted, if not embraced by all, and to once again be the UNITED States of America, we must all rediscover “the human factor.” There is no acceptable alternative.
