by Robert Gardner, producer/director
A thousand years ago in Southern Spain, Muslims, Christians and Jews lived side by side in peace, and thrived. Their respective cultures and beliefs intertwined, the knowledge of the ancients was gathered and reborn, and produced the seeds that would be the Renaissance. Sadly, their world vanished all-too-quickly, swept away by creed, fear, and intolerance. Absolutism and puritanical judgments snuffed out the light of learning and, within a few centuries, the fragile union was dissipated like smoke. This film raises two questions: What can we learn from this small window in time? Must history forever repeat itself? (PBS)
