Paper Dolls (Bubot NIyar)

Last night I caught the last hour of "Paper Dolls" on the Sundance Channel. Its a touching documentary on a group of Filipino trangenders who emigrate to Israel to take care of elderly orthodox Jews at nursing homes. Filipinos have a penchant for entertaining, so they also form a performance group called the "Paper Dolls". I read a recent news story on the large numbers of Filipinos who work abroad (I first took note of this development when we went on cruise vacations and encountered a large number of pinoys working on the ships) and this movie explores global immigration as well as the history behind Israel's policies towards legal and illegal foreign workers. Unique relationships develop between the Filipinos who seek acceptance of their sexual orientation in a foreign land and these elderly people who are rejected by their families because of their age. Amazingly they become family for each other. This documentary is truly a great slice of life on many levels.