Another charming Israeli movie is coming our way. Like The
Wedding Plan [reviewed here on 5/2/17]
which came out in the US a month or so ago, this one is charming, intelligent
and funny, even as it shows us a side of the religious community most of us may
not have experienced. The Women’s Balcony has a serious side as well,
but it is presented with a light, quite palatable touch.
The Women’s Balcony is about a Jerusalem temple’s small,
but close knit congregation - devout in their customs and orthodox in their faith
(in a relatively moderate way). They live near their modest synagogue in the old
Bukharan Quarter, traditionally home to Mizrahi (long-time middle eastern) Jewish
families. It’s Saturday, the Sabbath day, and a particularly joyous one,
because Ettie and Zion’s grandson is having his Bar Mitzvah this morning.
Everyone walks to the temple of course (work, which includes operating
machinery such as cars, is forbidden on Shabat; and besides, there’s no room
for vehicles on the ancient, narrow streets here). It’s a pot luck affair, and so all the
families are carrying bowls and platters and pots of food for after the
service. Everyone’s gabbing and laughing, joyful for the big occasion and also just
glad to be coming together again, as they do every week.
The men and the women walk together, but once arrived at the
temple, they separate as always, the men on the main floor participating in the
service, and the women on the balcony upstairs, looking down, watching, while quietly
whispering to one another, checking that all the preparations are in place for
the party. The elderly rabbi is explaining this week’s torah passage, when Ettie
and Zion’s niece Yaffa realizes that she forgot to bring an essential item, the
bag of wrapped candy. A swift youngster is sent off to run and get this, and the
rabbi is told to stall, through an amusing signing sequence. Soon, the child
returns with the package, the service can proceed and now we understand: as the
Bar Mitzvah boy is called upon to rise, the balcony merrily showers him with the
candy.
The Women’s Balcony begins with a Bar Mitzvah and
ends with a wedding. But in between there’s trouble in paradise. The balcony
collapses, the rabbi’s wife is severely injured and the rabbi himself, in
shock, sits in his study, withdrawn, mentally confused, totally unable to
assist a congregation facing the many questions and decisions that ensue. How
can we rebuild our sanctuary? Where can we worship in the interim? How can we help
our rabbi, and who will serve in his capacity until he gets better?
These are not wealthy nor sophisticated folks. Zion runs a
small spice shop, his friend Nissan a tiny dry goods shop nearby. Their friend
Roni is the “custodian” of the synagogue, essentially a low end, low paid
helper. One of the women does a little tailoring out of her apartment. And so
forth.
Money's a problem but so is the municipal and religious
red-tape required for repairs and rebuilding. When they finally find a temporary
little room they can use for services, it’s some distance away, and the men find
it hard to pull together a minion (the minimum quorum of ten men required to
hold an organized service).
Then, like a seeming miracle, a vigorous, charismatic young
rabbi called Rabbi David appears. He
happens to run a nearby seminary and offers to help out. Sure enough, he’s able
to cut through the red tape and gets the ball rolling on repairs. He’s also an mesmerizing
speaker who inspires hope and renewed faith in the congregation, like a breath
of fresh air. It seems too good to be
true. And it is.
Rabbi David (Aviv Alush) is Hariedi – an ultra-orthodox, fundamentalist branch of Judaism that has
no use for moderation and is far stricter in its beliefs and practices than our
congregation is used to. The fresh air soon morphs into an ill wind. There is
dissension, especially among the women – whom David praises as far more perfect
than the men, but whom he treats as second class citizens. At first, the men
are insensitive to this, blinded by the magnetic personality and mighty rhetoric
of the young leader. But some of the women take umbrage – and when the
resurrected synagogue is unveiled, and they find that their beloved balcony has
not been restored, but replaced instead with a claustrophobic little anteroom,
set apart from the sanctuary itself, it feels like a slap in the face. It is
time for a bit of Lysistrata action.
Writer Shlomit Nehama and director Emil Ben-Shimon give us a
chance to get to know and appreciate some of the community members before the
drama sets in, so that we care about what happens to them and how they react to
Rabbi David and the fractures in their community. The foremost characters are
Zion (Igal Naor) a sweet, softie of a mensch, and his levelheaded, warmhearted wife
Ettie (Evelin Hagoel) the center of the women’s community - and of Zion’s life.
Their abiding love and affection for one another is beautifully demonstrated in
several lovely scenes throughout the film. While the relationships between the
other couples appears to be strong as well, more screen-time is devoted to
illustrating the friendship and emotional bonds between Ettie and several of
the women, most notably her friends Tikva (Orna Banai) and Margalit (Einat Sarouf).
And there’s a cute subplot involving Ettie and Zion’s pretty
niece, Yaffa (Yafit Asulin), who, being of marriageable age, is regularly
getting set up with dates. She keeps threatening to cancel these, probably with
good reason if the one we’re allowed to eavesdrop on is any indication - her
suitor spends the time giving Yaffa a religious quiz of sorts to see if they’ll
be compatible (e.g. Who’s your favorite biblical hero?). But nature takes its
course eventually, and Yaffa finds her true love the new-fashioned way – on her
own. It’s not what (or who) you’d expect, but it works.
The cast, largely unknown to Americans, includes many
popular Israeli actors and entertainers. The fellow playing Rabbi David, for
example is said to be a teen heart-throb, for having hosted Israel’s version of
Nickelodeon for many years and also, undoubtedly, for his heart-throb good
looks. Orna Banai and Yafit Asulin are well known comedians, as well as actors.
Evelin Hagoel and Igal Naor are established, respected dramatic actors.
The Women’s Balcony is warm and funny and will leave
you with a good feeling when the credits come up at the end. But it also has a
point to make about religious intolerance and the price of extremism. Interestingly,
it makes this point within the confines of Judaism rather than, say, between Jews
and Arabs, or what would be really interesting these days: within a fractured
Islam. Rabbi David winds up being a divisive figure not because he is insincere
or personally corrupt – he is, it seems, zealously religious and trying, by his
lights, to help these people – but because of his sense of intransigent righteousness
and his unbending devotion to a fundamentalist, intolerant (and sexist) ideology.
Another aspect of the narrative, which might be lost on American viewers, is
the sentimentality of screenwriter Nehama, who grew up in the Bukharan Quarter
in a family like those depicted in the film, only to see the district
infiltrated and largely taken over in recent years by the Hareidi sects represented
in the film by Rabbi David; while the vibrant, more moderate community she grew
up in has largely disappeared.
Another interesting facet of the film, for me at least, is
how the eventual feminist uprising is so narrowly delimited. Nehama says, “I made something very feminist,
but I didn’t mean to.” Ettie and her friends rise up to oppose the imposition
of a radical brand of religious doctrine and observance that would reduce their role
in the community and diminish them personally. But while they refuse to be forced into an ultra-orthodox faith, all they want is a return to what
they had before – roles with which they were perfectly comfortable and a temple
balcony where they can gather segregated from the men. They are not seeking anything beyond that, certainly
not a broader liberalization such as being allowed to join the men on the main
floor of the sanctuary, or active participation in the religious services along
with the men.
I find that strange, but then I’m neither female nor
connected to an orthodox community (or any faith community, for that matter),
and certainly not in a position nor of a mind to criticize.
The Women’s Balcony is entertaining, thought
provoking (in a non-pedantic way) and ultimately uplifting. It ends with a
wedding, after all.
96 minutes
Grade: B+
The Women’s Balcony has already opened in the New York metro
area, Northern New Jersey, and Scottsdale AZ (go figure!). It opens in San Francisco,
Washington DC, Chicago, and a few other cities on Friday June 16, 2017; and in Berkeley,
San Jose, Dallas and a few other cities on June 23rd. The limited release rollout will continue on a
weekly basis over the summer.
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