Where yesterday’s movie review talked about the internal struggle between the heart and the mind, today’s movie made me think about the external forces one could face regarding love. I find it perplexing when I hear people say, “He comes from a good family” or “You cannot marry someone outside your faith.”  What do these things mean? To me being able to say, “I love you,” is one of the most profound statements a human being can say. It supersedes what anyone else has to say on the subject. Looking at relationships historically, marriages were arranged for various reasons. In some cases families were joined for political reasons, while others were done simply to combine farmlands. In this quiet drama the attempt to join two people in marriage was done, in my opinion, for selfish reasons. Yiftach Klein (Policeman, Noodle) played Yochay, the brother-in-law of Shira, played by Hadas Yaron (Out of Sight). When Yochay’s wife (Shira’s sister) died during childbirth; Shira’s mother Rivka, played by Irit Sheleg (Night Terrors, Abba Ganuv III), suggested Shira marry her brother-in-law and become a mother for the new born baby. On one level the story made me uncomfortable; however, when I viewed the movie as a glimpse into a family’s struggle between old world traditions and modern independent thinking, I was able to see it as a historical study. This film festival winner provided a peek into an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community in Tel Aviv Israel. The acting was well done by Hadas and Yiftach, as they used their bodies to convey the enormous pressures being placed on them. However, there was a negative side in focusing on the physical. I wished there had been more verbal interactions between the characters because I found myself getting bored. Gratefully the filming had a stark, sharp look to it. The way Shira’s pale whiteness contrasted with the darkly clothed men around her was interesting to watch. It may be due to my feelings about love being a personal thing, but I found this film to be somewhat sad. It is already hard enough when the heart and mind wrestle over the direction of love; but then adding outside influences creates a bigger challenge. Hebrew with English subtitles.

2 1/2 stars