You know an audience is really emotionally invested in a movie when the director's refusal to reveal a key piece of information, insisting instead to keep it a mystery, is met with a collective groan from half the audience and appreciate applause from the other half. Such was the case Sunday night at the screening of Leon Geller and Marcus Vetter's The Heart of Jenin, a moving and provocative doc that follows Ismael, the father of a Palestinian boy killed by Israel soldiers as he makes the tough but brave choice to allow his son?s organs to be donated so that others may live.

Ismael then sets out to meet the children and their families, who, much to the dismay of many in Ismael?s community, are not Arabic. The three who agreed to participate in the film are, Druze, Bedouin and Orthodox Jewish. This last recipient, whose father makes controversial comments under stressful circumstances that enrage Ismael, upsets the Arabic community the most. 

?Some people would have preferred if I?d become a suicide bomber, if I?d gone out and killed a child rather than saved one.? In fact Ismael?s decision saved the lives of five people, but many in his community still branded him a traitor ? until, that is, they saw the movie. Geller explained during the Q&A how many people at the screening held in Jenin admitted openly that the film changed their mind about Ismael, and by extension the Israel-Palestine conflict itself.

Choosing peace in the face of so much anger and hatred is far from easy, as the film makes clear. But it also makes clear that it is the only way to keep a loving and peaceful heart. The Heart of Jenin screens again Tuesday at 2:45 at AMC 9 and Thursday at 9:30pm at AMC 6.