Harrisonburg, Virginia

Reflection written by Pratik Banjade, president of the International Student Association, James Madison University.


Our experience with Divided We Fall was a fine one. Although our success could not be measured in the number of people that attended the movie and the discussion afterwards, it was seen in the impact the movie seemed to make on people. I feel that the movie did truly "start to make us be human with one another" at the discussion.

The movie was advertised to the whole campus, but being a weekday and close to the dates of many students' first tests we did not get the outcome we had hoped. We did have about 50 very engaged viewers come to the film, seventeen of whom came to the discussion afterwards. The discussion brought about closure and some sense of connectedness among the group. We talked about the documentary, personal experiences and many issues that affect us today, years later. Although not everyone was able to come to the discussion, I feel that the people who did come were impacted enough to pass on what they had learned.


The movie seemed to open new windows of view for everyone there. In high school, my best friend was Sikh, so I had heard of many of the topics discussed in the movie. However, even years later this movie brought about feelings that I did not know I even had. I found it hard to believe that one human could be so ignorant as to do on to others the worst that they could possibly imagine. On the other hand, I was amazed by the generosity of forgiveness and love that lies in people's hearts. With these dynamic aspects of human nature there seems to be hope for the reversal from the need to have "the other." However, we are not at a place today where this can happen. We still have people that believe that there has to be the other and that this other must be wrong in order for her/himself to be right.

I believe that change comes about though learning, and learning (when considering large populations) occurs relatively on a small case. But word does travel by mouth, affecting whoever it does touch and so hopefully one day we will live in a world that is not perfect but that is respectful. I commend the makers of the film for not just having such a novel idea but to actually execute it (in a time when some people were not as brave to seek out the truth). It is through efforts such as this that impacting messages are brought to the masses (so that they can be spread).