In Israel, a film’s twists of faith

AN hour’s drive lies between this footloose beach city where director Gidi Dar lives and the enclave of black-clad Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem that is the focus of his latest movie. To many Israelis, the distance feels bigger -- say, a century or two.

In a land crisscrossed by fault lines of faith and identity, one of the most pronounced is the rift separating Israel’s secular majority from the devout Jews typically referred to in this nation of 7 million as ultra-Orthodox, or haredim.

These believers, with their side locks, black coats and hats, occupy an insular society that adheres to Old World ways and mostly avoids mainstream Israeli society out of fear of its corrupting influences. Many secular Israelis glare at the haredim as alien and resent them for avoiding compulsory military service and jobs in favor of religious study, often supported by public aid or charity.

It is this pious slice of Israel that Dar, a 41-year-old former jazz musician, explores in “Ushpizin,” a fable-like holiday comedy that has won praise on all sides for making its Orthodox subjects accessible -- even lovable -- to a wider Israeli audience.

“Ushpizin,” an Aramaic word meaning “guests,” met with critical approval when it first ran here last year. It ended up as one of the country’s top box-office draws. The movie was picked up by Picturehouse for distribution, and will open in Los Angeles and New York on Oct. 19.

Dar said he hopes the film, which follows the sometimes-comic tribulations of a beleaguered but committed religious newcomer named Moshe, can help dissolve some of the mutual suspicion dividing the haredim from secular Israel. The director lists it as the deepest of the nation’s schisms.

“The Jews hate the Arabs. The religious hate the secular. The Ashkenazis hate the Sephardim,” Dar said, relaxing in jeans, an untucked white shirt and bare feet on his sunsplashed back terrace. “It’s like a football game. The problem is, it’s not a football game. It’s real life.”

The “real issue,” he said, “is between the ultra-Orthodox and the seculars.” Dar said that tension centers on built-in contradictions of the Jewish state, with the haredim seeking a more religious orientation and most secular Israelis wanting to be like any other modern Western nation.

“Ushpizin” was among a crop of award-winning Israeli feature films last year that helped move the nation’s cinema further from a drab uniformity of the past, when story lines seldom veered from a Zionist message. Among the recent films, “Or” told the story of a teenager and her prostitute mother, “Attash” focused on an Arab family and its tyrannical patriarch, and “The Syrian Bride” centered on a young Druze woman whose family has arranged a marriage that will force her to leave them for Syria.

Along with “Ushpizin,” the movies share a focus on segments traditionally left on the margins of Israeli cinema or cast only in stereotype. They also reflect an evolving recognition that the Israeli reality is woven of many strands, if not always neatly, said Uri Klein, film critic for the daily Haaretz newspaper.

“Suddenly Israeli society was shown on the screen in all its diversity: Orthodox, secular, Jews, Arabs, men and women,” Klein said.

Dar directed a 1992 film called “Eddie King,” about an out-of-work actor caught up in a criminal plot, and has made shorter works, documentaries and a children’s television series. He may seem an unlikely candidate to delve into the lives of devout Jews -- not only is he secular, he says he doesn’t believe in God and describes himself in political terms as an anarchist.

But with a stylized, fairy-tale quality, “Ushpizin” delivered a version of Israel that at once looked realistic and not, and resonated well with secular moviegoers, Klein said. “There’s a huge curiosity among secular society about what’s going on in the Orthodox society -- a very touching but almost hopeless need to get closer to it,” he said.

Religiously observant viewers said they too found the film a refreshing departure.

“There’s no condescension in the way secularists in the movie relate to the haredim,” said David Zilberschlag, who runs a haredi newspaper. “Generally speaking, there’s a demonizing of the haredim in Israeli movies. Haredim are portrayed in an almost anti-Semitic way.”

A seeming test from God

DAR said the movie, though meant to be lighthearted, was a way to explore the psychology of believers -- what he views as a continuous balance between praying for miracles on one side and having one’s faith tested on the other.

Moshe, a penniless Hasidic Jew, cannot afford preparations for the weeklong Sukkot celebration and is forced to pray for last-minute help. Making matters worse, he and his wife have been unable to produce a child -- an obvious source of deep disappointment.

Just as some of the prayers appear to be answered, the couple’s life is upended by a pair of runaway convicts who show up at their door and are allowed to stay. (The movie explains that it’s a blessing to host guests during Sukkot.) The couple view the ensuing disruption as a test from God.

Moshe is played by Shuli Rand, a longtime friend of Dar who became religious in recent years and joined a Hasidic community in Jerusalem. Rand, who appeared in “Eddie King” more than a decade earlier, dropped out of movies for years. Then he told Dar about his idea for a movie based on real-life incidents in his community and wrote the script for “Ushpizin.”

Dar wanted to make the film look authentic -- not easy in a strictly religious community that casts a wary eye toward outsiders and modern media. The director met with Rand’s rabbi, Shalom Arush, explained the project, and won the rabbi’s endorsement to proceed.

That helped open doors in the religious neighborhoods of Jerusalem where filming took place, though residents sometimes shooed the cameras away. The rabbi’s assistant served as an unofficial casting director, recruiting dozens of male extras from the community. “I said there would not be even one person in this movie with a fake beard,” Dar said.

There were strict religious rules: no work on the Jewish Sabbath, no mixing of men and women, and kosher-only catered food. Shooting paused to give the men time for ritual dancing.

Because of religious prohibitions against looking at or touching women, Rand’s spouse in the film was played by his real-life wife, Michal Bat-Sheva Rand, who is not a professional actress.

To settle questions over religious rules during shooting, the filmmakers gave the rabbi a cellular phone, which they dubbed “the red phone,” for on-the-spot consultations. It was never used, Dar said.

The film has been popular among the Orthodox Jews it depicts, even though many won’t set foot in mainstream movie theaters on religious grounds. Instead, viewers watched pirated versions that made their way onto the Internet and got downloaded to home computers.

Dar estimates that 700,000 religious viewers have seen the film, though relatively few bought tickets. Rand, named best actor by the Israeli Film Academy for his role, found himself besieged by fans in his observant Jerusalem neighborhood.

Neta Ariel, who runs a Jerusalem film school that attracts religious students, compared “Ushpizin” to other recent films that have successfully plumbed closed societies in places such as Iran and some spots in Asia.

“ ‘Ushpizin’ is this kind of movie,” Ariel said. “It’s human nature to peep into unfamiliar places. You cannot make all the movies in New York and Tel Aviv.”