This day began in darkness. I don’t wish to waste words on the disgusting statements by President Trump over the last few days, threatening genocide in Iran. This has been a purely evil war, the first I can remember where every participant has acted in an appalling manner.

There are no good guys here. The war never should have begun. The actions taken by U.S., Israeli and Iranian leaders have been shameful, and none of them deserve to lead their people.

I found myself today not knowing what to write, not just for myself, but In a professional capacity. How could I anticipate the world two months from now, given what was promised this evening? Fortunately, events took a turn for the positive. Forgive me if I’m skeptical—does anyone trust the three countries in question to hold up an agreement for the two week length of the cease fire?

But the lack of catastrophe is a relief. Even before the good news, I had committed myself to spend the evening watching a couple films that seemed appropriate, even if I didn’t know why.

The first was a 2012 documentary by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf called “The Gardener.” I bought this film as part of a box set of Makhmalbaf films called the “Poetic Trilogy.” I was expected something similar to the other films that I watched earlier, “Gabbeh” and “The Silence,” but this one came more than 15 years after the others.

“The Gardener” is about the Baha’i faith, which was founded in Iran in the 19th century. It’s a fascinating belief system, with the most logical theology I’ve ever come across. Baha’i faithful believe that God is mostly unknowable, but has regularly expressed some elements of divinity through prophets. That means this faith accepts all others that came before it and considers faith to be progressive, one building upon the other.

Even though Baha’i is an Iranian faith, it is not one of the accepted religions of the Islamic Republic. Iranians protect the religious rights of Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. But Baha’i faithful, unofficially believed to be around 300,000 total, have been persecuted throughout the Revolution.

The film takes place at a beautiful Baha’i temple in Haifa, Israel, and Makmalbaf frequently notes the irony and importance of that fact. He uses Baha’i as a metaphor for what has gone wrong in the Middle East and how peace would be possible if the faith’s precepts were widely appreciated and accepted.

But it’s not really a political film. Much of the film literally concerns gardening, or more specifically, how the act of taking care of a well manicured garden is an act of faith. The movie is also—very typically of Iranian cinema—a meta movie, where Makmalbaf and his young adult son debate religion and politics and appear to be making competing movies on the same subject.

It’s not Makmalbaf’s best film, but it was the perfect movie for me to watch tonight.

I followed it up with “A Hidden Life,” Terrence Malick’s 2019 epic about an Austrian farmer who was drafted to serve in World War II, but refused to pledge his loyalty to Adolph Hitler, leading to his imprisonment and ultimate execution. In plot, the movie seems like the ultimate bummer, but there’s something deeply spiritual and moving about the protagonist’s act of resistance.

The movie ends with the beautiful quote from George Eliot’s “Middlemarch:”

“…for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs”.

I don’t want to go more deeply into the film for the same reason that I didn’t want to write too much about “The Tree of Life” a couple days ago — descriptions fall woefully short of capturing Terrence Malick’s artistry.

But I also want to let that George Eliot quote sit there and sum up the day. We continue to believe that the world is defined by Great Men who drag us into great historic missions, and mostly force upon us destruction and hatred. The world is too beautiful for them to dominate our thoughts and tamp down our hopes.

Let us celebrate the good people who live those hidden lives. And let us hope for more days of peace.