Review of Ushpizin (2004) by V H — 31 Oct 2005

Sometimes I see movies which seem to be aimed at such a narrow target audience that I'm almost embarrassed to be seen walking out of the theater, half expecting someone to ask me "what are YOU doing here?". Such was the case with [i]Ushpizin[/i], a movie made by, about, and for ultra-Orthodox Jews. So what's a nice atheist shiksa like me doing seeing a movie like this? Well I'm not completely uncredentialed. After all, I dated a Jewish guy for years, although he was the sort who ate bacon and used an old yarmulke as a dog frisbee. Ok, so maybe that doesn't really count.

[i]Ushpizin [/i]was a learning experience to be sure. The story is set in Jerusalem. It's about this married couple named Moshe and Malli who are flat broke right before the big holiday of Sukkot. In order to get some money to celebrate, they decide to both pray really, really hard. Moshe goes out and squinches up his eyes really tight and claps his hands a bunch of times then balls up his fists and says "I need a miracle" over and over. I'm pretty sure this scene wasn't supposed to be funny either.

Coincidentally (from the heathen point of view), some charity guy is distributing money and has an extra $1000 left and randomly chooses Moshe to be the lucky recipient. He slips an envelope full of cash under the couple's door and naturally they attribute it to God working a miracle. So now they can prepare for this Sukkot festival, which I learned commemorates the Jews wandering in the desert and living in temporary shelters.

To celebrate, everyone in the neighborhood builds these little wooden houses covered by palm frondy roofs called sukkahs where they'll eat and sleep for the whole week. They also buy what are called "the four species"; three of the species are some sort of branchy things and the fourth looks like a giant lemon. After Moshe and Malli come into the money, Moshe goes out and gets the best lemon money can buy, which is appraised by this guy wearing one of those jeweler's eyepieces at 1000 shekels. Malli flips out when she finds out how much Moshe spent and now that I have access to currency conversion rates, I see why. That's about $215 for a lemon!

So part of this Sukkot festival is that it's considered a good thing to have guests. As luck would have it, two escaped convicts, one of whom used be friends with Moshe, show up just in time for dinner the first night since they have nowhere else to go. They're kind of rough characters and not at all religious. Apparently, Moshe used to be a ruffian himself though now he's all with the long beard and the black hat and the rocking back and forth praying all day long. But still, he agrees that they can stay and live in the sukkah because having guests brings the Jewish equivalent of good karma. He considers the fact that the guests are bad guys to be some sort of a test from God.

See, Moshe and Malli really want a baby. Actually, not just any old baby; they really want a [i]son[/i]. They've been married for five years and still have no kids so that can only mean one thing: God is pissed. Pretty much everything they do is to try to make God happy so he'll give them a son. This includes buying the giant overpriced lemon and being hospitable to the escaped criminals. Whatever it takes.

Unfortunately, the guests soon start putting a strain on Moshe and Malli's marriage. They drink too much, have horrendous table manners, and play their music way too loudly. When Malli finds out that they're really escaped prisoners and not old college chums like Moshe had told her, that's it for her. She's off to live at mother's house.

Well you know a movie like this can't end like that. I don't think I'm ruining anything by telling you that by the end of the film, everyone is gathered for the new baby boy's bris with proud papa Moshe looking resplendent in a white veil with what appears to be a large green Lego block in the middle of his forehead. So it all works out.

Sure this movie is predictable and way too god-y for my tastes, with prayer being touted as the answer to all problems, be they monetary or gynecological. But for me, the plot was almost beside the point. What makes this movie interesting is that it serves as a window into an intriguing secret society which outsiders don't normally get to see. That alone is worth the price of admission.