A Pleasure to See Jewish Culture in a movie

When I saw a trailer for Wish I was Here on a DVD my husband and I watched last week I knew I wanted to see it. On our trip back to the library I was delighted to find Wish I we Here on their DVD shelves. I enjoyed the film tremendously.

I grew up in Miami in a large Jewish community in the 1970s and 1980s. The story of the Bloom family- Aidan, Noah and their father- brought back a lot of memories for me. When they turned the pages of the family photo album I had to pause on one picture, because it looked just like the pictures of my family at weddings and social events. Same colours, same hairdos, same fashions.

My brother and the people I knew in school are not religious and feel like Aidan when it comes to religion: sceptical. I enjoyed the scenes of the religious school and the scenes with the rabbis.

I appreciated that while Aidan didn't agree with his father about sending his children to a yeshiva the movie didn't criticize Grace's beliefs, the school, and the rabbis. I didn't mind the poking of the elderly rabbi: the sequence where he rides a segway in the hospital and crashes into a wall was hilarious. I'm glad that the movie didn't show Noah and Aidan rejecting their religious background in favour of being completely secular. Wish I Was Here could have just shown Aidan telling his children to forget about yeshiva and religion and embrace "normal" contemporary life. I appreciated that Aidan found guidance from the younger rabbi, and Grace found ways to carry on her beliefs while adapting to their new lives after Aidan's father passed away. The pink wig was a nice symbol of her growing more confidence and openness to new experiences while maintaining her values: she was wearing a wig like a religious married woman, but it was bright pink.

I'm a big fan of comics and I've been to the San Diego comic con a few times. It was great to see the convention in the movie and see the cosplayers walking outside the center and around the rooms, taking pleasure in showing off their costumes. Noah's space man costume was terrific. I saw a lot of amazing costumes at San Diego- I would have loved to see more cosplayers, especially the Star Wars costumes and the people dressing up as superheroes and supervillians.

It's great to see movies being made now that celebrate fan culture like the cosplayers and Comic Con. It's a pleasure to see a movie that presents growing up in a Jewish family, and explores aspects of Jewish identity, how adults and parents like Aidan and Noah feel about their heritage, and passing on values to their children.