USHPIZIN (Ha-ushpizin, or "The Guests") Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Picturehouse Films
Grade: B+
Directed by: Giddi Dar
Written by: Shuli Rand
Cast: Shuli Rand, Michal Bat-Sheva Rand, Shaul Mizrahi, Ilan
Ganani, Avraham Abutboul, Daniel Dayan
Screened at:Review 2, NYC, 9/13/05 Ask a few people who have traveled to Israel about their opinion
of the Jerusalem neighborhood called Mea Shearim and you
may get this reply: "Oh, isn't that the place where you'd better
not drive your car on Friday night or Saturday if you want to
keep the vehicle in one piece?" or "Hey, that's where a girlfriend
of mine got cussed at because she walked through the nabe in
a short-sleeve shirt!" Not that these thoughts are wrong: you will
indeed be treated as an untouchable if you offend the
conservative taste of the ultra-Orthodox Jews who live there, but
here's your chance to find out something about the
culture–actually a subculture within Israel, a country that's
hardly monolithic. For "Ushpizin," which is Aramaic for "Holy
Guests," director Giddi Dar hooked up with his friend from the
old days, Shuli Rand, and with him in the principal role he
shows how art follows life. Giddi Dar is a secular Jew. Shuli Rand and his wife Michal Bat-
Sheva Rand, did some acting in former times, but had each
become Ba'al Teshuva, which freely translated means
"someone who was secular but has returned to the faith." In this
film, Ms. Rand wrote the script and took the main role as an
ultra-Orthodox resident of Mea Shearim whose husband, years
back, was quite a hell-raiser–something like our own president
who has given up the Good Times of his youth and became
Born Again–a Ba'al Teshuva, if you will. The action takes place just before and during the 7-day Jewish
holiday of Succoth, which celebrates the temporary dwellings in
which Israelites stayed during their departure from Egypt.
Orthodox Jews today live in succahs, something like tents, for
the 7-day period. There is a mitzvah (commandment) to
welcome guests into the succah, but Moshe Bellanga (Shuli
Rand) and his wife Mali (Michal Bat Sheva Rand), cannot afford
a succah even for themselves, much less for guests,
presumably because the community yeshiva denied a charitable
payment to the couple for being without children. When a
succah turns up, one assumed to be of no more use to its
owners–and shortly thereafter Moshe and Mali receive $1,000
from an anonymous charity--there is much rejoicing. God has
answered their prayers. When one of Moshe's former buddies,
Eliyahu Scorpio (Shaul Mizrahi) and Eliyahu's pal Yossef (Ilan
Ganani), escape from jail and announce themselves as guests,
they point out that years back, Moshe was a secular hellraiser,
ready to attack anyone who'd make fun of him. Not believing
his saintly transformation, the two ushpizin test his character
with obnoxious behavior, but more important, Moshe and Mali
believe that they are themselves being tested by God, who'd
want these ushpizin treated warmly. Because the picture is lensed almost entirely within a few
blocks, the movie exudes a theatrical feeling, or claustrophobia.
We'd want to see more of the city surrounding this special area,
to witness what Jerusalem is all about. One wonders what an
audience of Christians and secular Jews will think after seeing
this. On the one hand, some may be confirmed in their
prejudices that these are people from outer space. More likely,
though, the movie will serve our getting to know them: that they
do not simply pray day and night, that they do argue and are not
afraid to drink the heavy stuff or to smoke. The Rands turn in a
credible and humorous performance–which is not to say that
Brad Pitt would ever want to chill out with Michal Bat Sheva
Rand. "Ushpizin" was filmed on Israeli military barracks just outside
Mea Shearim. To get the permission of the nabe to shoot the
film, the crew had to follow all the rules of the community.
They'd don yarmelkas, kept the catering kosher, and never
filmed on the Sabbath. Sholom Alechim and Isaac Bashevis
Singer almost meet O. Henry in this tale of woe and joy, but
given the happy ending (however contrived), O. Henry is out of
the picture. The movie is a historic breakthrough: the first time
actual members of an ultra-Orthodox community are filmed by a
secular crew for distribution to general audiences. The film is in
Hebrew with English subtitles; also a bissel Yiddish. Rated PG-13. 90 minutes © 2005 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online | 
