Soldiers of Peace (2008)

Reviewed by Joyce King Heyraud 

“One way or another the world is going to be made a single whole entity.  But it will be unified in mutual mass destruction or by means of mutual human consciousness”

-        Edward Edinger, Archetype of the Apocalypse, p171

 Soldiers of Peace is not a rhetorical documentary on peace, it is an exposition of people who have been moved to hold the opposites of dark and light and have chosen to tip the scales in favour of the light.  They have brought conflict to consciousness and intention to inventive avenues of remarkable reconciliation.  The film is an attempt to temper media bombardment of violence and war with examples of grassroots peace efforts of ordinary people.

 Director and cinematographer Tim Wise deftly captured the stories behind Soldiers of Peace while on assignment covering wars and rebel factions as a freelance journalist in regions such as Africa and south-east Asia.  Michael Douglas narrates the film, which spans five continents and fourteen countries and includes interspersed interviews with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Bob Geldof, Sir Richard Branson, Prince Hassan of Jordan, and others who are striving for peace individually or in tandem.  The audience is taken on an 86-minute around-the-world tour of places where resourceful, courageous people are establishing creative ways of mitigating cross-cultural psychological and philosophical obstructions, liberating energy for tolerance and understanding.

 The film focuses on examples of ways in which people and communities are experiencing newfound relationships that promise positive systemic change and reconciliation.  The film segments include efforts of rival fundamentalists in Nigeria who are dialoguing about peaceful coexistence, an enterprising young Kenyan woman who brings opposing tribes together through the game of football, an elementary school where Jewish and Palestinian Arab students study together and former military men who inspire peace through music and dance.  One of the musicians created a transformational symbol by making guitars from AK47 machine guns.

 Soldiers of Peace was produced by Australian philanthropist Steve Killelea, the founder of the Global Peace Index, which annually ranks the world’s most peaceful nations.  The documentary was shown at the United Nations on November 19, 2008 and was previewed at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where it received The Club of Budapest World Ethic Film Award.  The documentary also won Best Feature Film at the Monaco International Film Festival.