MovieChat Forums > Ha-Ushpizin (2005) Discussion > Similarities between Ushpizin and Raisin...

Similarities between Ushpizin and Raising Arizona

posted 11 years ago by colorknit
3 replies | jump to latest

I recently noticed that Ushpizin is similar to Raising Arizona (1987) after seeing the latter. Here is what I found:

• Both films are about an infertile couple in which the man is an ex-con
• In both films, the couple take something that is nice to have, but they have not rightfully earned, and still felt entitled to. In RA, it is a child. In Ushpizin, it is a sukkah.
• In both films, after taking the thing they felt entitled to, a curse is brought into their lives. They are then taunted by a pair of escaped prisoners who were former buddies of the main character.
• In both films, the main character, though out of prison, continues to struggle with their past problem that led them to trouble. In RA, it is cleptomania (as he shoplifts diapers). In Ushpizin, it is anger.
• In both films, toward the end, the main character's wife makes plans to end the marriage. But ultimately, they stay together and have a child.

[–] hotspurpagg 11 years ago

Wow. It's funny how two dissimilar films can still synch up like that. When watching "Ushpizin" (I just finished it a couple of minutes ago), I absent-mindedly was thinking that the two convicts were rather Coen-esque characters (perhaps because the taller one reminded me so much of Peter Stormare!) but I didn't think of all the RA connections until I read this thread.

[–] hilaryjrp 11 years ago

The hostile comments on other threads on this board amaze me. It's been a while since I saw Ushpizin. (The ex-convicts are Coen-esque.)

Is the sukkah actually stolen? The big difference between the two films IMO is Ushpizin's annoying chronic optimism. The hostile comments on other threads talk about the couple wanting something for nothing, being moochers, etc., but to me it seemed just an annoying trait shared by fundamentalists of any faith.

[–] shoshbat 10 years ago

Is the sukkah actually stolen?

Yes and no. Ben Baruch, Moshe's friend, thought the Sukkah was what we call hefker or ownerless, because the man who owned the Sukkah (whose name I've suddenly forgotten) had bought a new Sukkah for himself. If something in declared hefker anyone can take it and it is not stealing. What Moshe and Ben Baruch didn't realize was that the man had not declared his old Sukkah hefker. This is why Moshe goes to him to ask for forgiveness.

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