Anger, blame, revenge. It’s what you’d feel if one day a stranger murdered someone you love – right? Well, remarkably, that’s not the case for everyone. Extraordinarily there are those who can find it within themselves to respond more peacefully, even managing to forgive – and finding peace, even closure, in the process.
In this interview, filmed exclusively for TheCarousel.com LA-based filmmaker Lekha Singh explains what inspired her to make her documentary ‘Beyond Right & Wrong: Stories of Justice and Forgiveness’ about reconciliation in the most extreme of circumstances:
“I was in Rwanda and I met this woman who had lost five of her children and they had been murdered by the man she was sharing a soda with. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – how was this possible?”, she adds “I was incredulous. So the film is my inquiry into that. Whether that’s possible. Whether that’s real.”
In the documentary which took seven years to make, this remarkable woman interviews victims and perpetrators of the Rwandan Genocide, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the troubles in Northern Ireland, following three deeply personal stories of loss and forgiveness. Now, it is used around the world as a tool towards creating understanding and closure in marriage guidance sessions, in prisons and even to help returning War Veterans.
Coming from a long line of pioneering females, here Lekha reveals a more personal side of herself, telling TheCarousel.com which women in her family have inspired her to be a radical thinker and what she hopes the film will achieve for others as the word spreads.
Hit play above to hear her tell the story in her own words and see excerpts from the film…
What the ‘Beyond Right & Wrong’ trailer below…
Has this film changed the way you view forgiveness and justice? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below…
