This is a question for anyone else who has seen the film----what does Shira mean when she says she is evil, or something like that, about 3/4 of the way through the movie? My guess is that she means that she is attracted to Yochay, and feels very guilty about these feelings, but perhaps I am guessing wrong.
I agree. Perhaps she feels bad that she will be marrying her older sister's widowed husband, essentially raising her son and taking over.
Or it might have been from when Yochay said all those things in the meeting they had, and Shira responds with: You should marry Frieda
Maybe Shira said she was wicked, b/c she had all these feelings about bucking the system, so to speak---NOT doing what mother and father (and everyone else, except Freida, wanted). By wanting to disobey her parents, she knew Hashem would be angry with her. The Hasidic/Ultra-Orthodox community is fascinating to study and I love the closeness of the families, the wonderful traditions, shared meals, lessons, singing and beautiful religious services----I wish I'd been born into it!
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You mention a lot of the bad things, Most of the women except the good parts and they are not complaining. They do not have to see things as you and other see them to feel other peoples ways are for them. Many of the traditions are pushed and supported by the elder women not necessarily by the men.
shareyellowtulips points out some of the very unpleasant aspects of being a Haredi woman. How about that mikvah purification which allows you to rejoin humanity cleansed of your shameful monthly pollution? I would also include the restrictions on the men, such as having to sport facial hair, pigtails and those dreadful fur headpieces straight from old Central Europe. Some of the women actually shave their hair and then put on wigs according to an old tradition from the shtetl, which was designed to protect the women's chastity from the leering eyes of goyim men. I am nonplussed whenever I see human beings trapped in a frozen time warp, bundled up in uncomfortable clothing, covering the hair, avoiding certain food, looking upon me as "unclean" because I might be eating lasagna with cheese and meat or a ham sandwich while showing my hair, shoulders, arms and legs. Whether they be Amish, Jewish, Muslim, they are living in a delusional world, believing that "God" wants them to act so or...? My strangest encounter with the world of Hasidim was at Pinery in Ontario, Canada on a 90 degree Farenheit day. My sister and I, both grown women frolicking in the lake, clad in sexy bikinis, looked up to see two little Hasidi girls, about 10 or 12, standing on the steps to the water, watching us curiously in their long black skirts, clumpy shoes and white buttoned-up blouses with long sleeves, of course. I felt sad for them and wished that they could shed the confining garments and join us in building a sand castle with a moat after a brisk swim in the lovely waves. But the two turned around, climbed the stairs and returned to their group, the black hatted men all dressed in white and black, the ladies with hair hidden under scarves, sitting at a picnic table and enjoying kosher salami and other good delicacies, God bless them. I mean no disrespect but I definitely appreciate my freedom from religious taboos and terrors. After all, Hashem hasn't struck me with a blitz of fire and brimstone...yet!
shareIt was one of two things: either her selfishness at wanting a young, new, shiny husband of her own -or- her guilt over her attraction to Yochay. I felt several times in the movie they were falling in love, that I was watching a love story. There was such tension between them, her breath would catch, we'd catch him watching her with tenderness. I thought I was watching a love story unfolding, both of them holding back because it seemed forbidden to them. This is more obvious when watching those instances condensed in the trailer. Having said this it made the ending all the more confusing. All that sobbing, catharsis? Before that scene she seemed so at peace with her decision and joyful. Smiling. Then she freezes in the bedroom. While I can't realte to that moment, I imagine that with a virgin it might be like that even when she has feelings for her husband, especially when they have never even been on a date together nor have spent enough time alone to be friends. I left the movie thinking they'd find their way together and it would be good.
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That was my impression too: that we were watching a very subtle, very unusual love story. There did seem to be a definite connection between Shira and Yochay, yet for many reasons they were both extremely reserved and slow to act. I think Shira felt guilty, felt that she was bad, because she felt this attraction - maybe had felt this way a little even before Yochay was a widower. Her crying with joy at her wedding makes sense in this context. The nervousness in the bedroom seems to me as you say, just the normal reaction of an inexperienced young woman.
In the DVD bonus material, Burshtein comments (I'm paraphrasing from memory) that Shira has almost no experience outside her community, has not watched movies or even read books that don't relate to her own faith and culture, and therefore doesn't even have the vocabulary to describe certain things like being in love. I think the movie shows her developing feelings she barely knows how to define at first, and eventually being able to harmonize her feelings with what she sees as her duty. Therefore it's a happy ending for all concerned.
Tell me the truth. Are we still in the game?
Well said!!! :)
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"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy" - Neville Longbottom
I think two things: one, she fears death, which given the belief in an afterlife might be considered controversial. Two, she cannot reconcile the demands of her culture and reconcile her feelings and her passion (which goes beyond sexual desire) for the 'real'.
The distance is nothing. The first step is the hardest.share
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