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Introduction
Ushpizin, which roughly translates to “holy guests” from ancient Aramaic, is a 2004 Israeli film directed by Gidi Dar and written by Shuli Rand. The latter plays the main character while his wife, Michal Rand, who had never acted before, is his spouse in the movie set as well. The picture is groundbreaking for several reasons: for starters, it is the first movie starring ultra-Orthodox Jewish actors and shot in the insular Jerusalem neighborhood Mea Shearim. What is more, Ushpizin breaks stereotypes about Hassidic marriage and challenges the commonly held beliefs about its limiting nature that promotes female subservience. This essay provides a movie analysis of Ushpizin that seeks to demonstrate that even an extremely conservative culture can be relatable to the secular viewer.
Main body
The movie opens by introducing the Rands’ characters: Moshe and Malli Bellanca. The Bellangas is a devout couple that is going through hard times. They are eager to start a family but seem to be reproductively challenged. Besides, Moshe and Malli are not in a good place financially and struggle to make ends meet. Right from the beginning, Ushpizin gives the viewer two strong, multidimensional characters that do not fit the stereotypes about Hassidic Jews. The wife Malli might be following a predominantly patriarchal religion, but she is not a spineless servant to her husband. If anything, she has a vibrant personality and a fiery temperament that she is not afraid to show. As for Moshe, scattered scraps of information point to his less-than-perfect past and mature transition from a secular to religious Jew. This character development is especially interesting because it allows the viewer to understand how choosing to live in faith can be independent and not indoctrinated.
As the story begins, Moshe and Malli are overcome with fear and anxiety. The married couple is anything but ready to celebrate one of the most important Jewish holidays: Sukkot. The celebration takes place over a week and glorifies life essentials. It requires building a temporary shack of both deprivation and hospitality and having enough food for a seven-day feast, neither of which the Bellangas are able to afford. The couple believes that their poverty and Malli’s infertility are somehow interconnected, and they pray ceaselessly to Lord to deliver them from their troubles.
Suddenly, their prayers are answered: Moshe proves to be eligible for a $1,000 donation from a yeshiva and receives a sukkah, a temporary shack, from his friend. Another miracle is instantly hosting guests as the couple welcomes Moshe’s old friend Eliyahu accompanied by Yossef, an awkward sidekick with a shaved head. In a plot twist, the blessing that Malli and Moshe have been enjoying so far shows its ugly side. The couple soon learns that they are hosting two convicts escaping the police. The strange guests are testing the limits of their patience by misbehaving, draining their budget, and disturbing their peace. After one too many trials of faith, the couple comes to a resolution of all their problems.
While some of the movie’s details will be truly relatable only to Jewish viewers, the overarching message has the potential of striking a chord with general audiences as well. Despite being a light-hearted comedy, Ushpizin poses a serious question regarding the limits of faith and logical reason. On the one hand, the Bellangas may come off as laughably blind believers that are spineless in their zeal to please their guests during the holiday season. On the other hand, Malli and Moshe support each other through sharing common beliefs and making their dreams come true by the end of Ushpizin. The question of having steadfast faith in the Lord is relevant for all religions, which is why this movie may appeal to viewers of other confessions. Those who do not adhere to any religion might want to revise their views on optimism and whether they should trust life and take it as it is.
Another important point that the movie makes and that might be not as obvious as the central theme of religion is the transient nature of life. At first, the title “Holy guests” may surely be seen as ironic: the misbehaving convicts overtaking someone’s sukkah are nothing but holy. Upon further analysis, however, the viewer might arrive at the conclusion that every person is a guest who comes to Earth to spend only a limited amount of time. During that time, nothing is set in stone: today, one might be grappling with a thousand problems, and tomorrow, they might as well magically disappear. By trusting the Lord, Malli and Moshe accepted this simple truth about life and learned to be humble and accepting.
Conclusion
Ushpizin is richly humane and revelatory: as much as it depicts a specific culture, it also shows that all humans share the same concerns about their personal integrity and the validity of their life goals. The movie approaches the Hassidic culture carefully and thoughtfully without ostracizing the central subject and making it unnecessarily exotic. Ushpizin successfully combines elements of comedy and drama and makes space for both comic relief and contemplation about the nature of life, the meaning of family, and the possibility of miraculous salvation.
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