n the evening of November 18, the movie “Gods of Molenbeek” was screened at Lumiere Cinema in Maastricht in collaboration UNICEF Student team Maastricht and United Nations Student Association. 'Gods of Molenbeek' portrays an extraordinary story of childhood friendship, inquiry, and the creation of meaning. It shows us how children live in their own world and still continue to utilize their creativity in creating a world they want to live in, despite the horrific and tough reality they are brought up in.
The movie follows Aatos and Amine, and their search for the answers to life's biggest questions. Aatos, a danish-chilean boy lives in Molenbeek, a muslim majority community in Brussels. However, the chaos and brutality of the adult world makes Aatos envious of Amine’s Muslim faith, which sends Aatos on a quest to find his own God and reflect whether god is 'real'. Aatos’s best friend, Amine, is muslim and goes to a seperate school.
As the Brussels terror attack occurs, there is an increase in militarization and rise in conflict between muslim and non-muslim communities. Surprisingly, this terrifying event only seems to be something that is happening in the background of the children's lives. There is no real interest in what happened, yet the kids still discuss it nonchalantly and Aatos laughs at the occurrence. In the end, Aatos has to move to Finland and leaves Amine, which leaves both children sad yet aware that they aren't going to see eachother again.
After “Gods of Molenbeek”, there was a discussion with a speaker, Laura Ogden about different aspects and interpretations of the movie. There was a focus on how migration can influence the behaviour and upbringing of a child and how kids are vulnerable and open to being told how things are, what they are meant to believe and supposed to do. In short, 3 questions were asked to the audience; what messages are being conveyed in the movie?; how do we connect it to what we study or experience in our everyday lives?; and how would our perspectives and questions about the movie change if we would step into the shoes of these children?
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