Menashe (2017)

Directed by: Joshua Z Weinstein | 82 minutes | drama | Actors: Menashe Lustig, Yoel Falkowitz, Hershy Fishman, Ruben Niborski, Meyer Schwartz, Ariel Vaysman, Yoel Weisshaus

From a liberal Jewish background, documentary filmmaker Joshua Z. Weinstein visited his grandparents in Brooklyn as a boy, where he occasionally glimpsed the strict Hasidic Jewish community. Many years later, he would have his first feature set there, in Brooklyn’s Borough Park. In ‘Menashe’, Weinstein tells the endearing story of a widower in a closed community in documentary style, who must make ends meet while trying to stay true to himself.

After the wife of main character Menashe died almost a year ago, he is still working hard to get his independent life on track and to take care of his son Rieven as best as possible. In the Hasidic community, however, this is not easy. Not only is he not very fond of how to run a household; Also, according to orthodox rules, it is forbidden to raise a child as a single man – Menashe’s brother-in-law and the rabbi understand that. Reven’s school can also send him away as long as he lives in a motherless house. The rabbi presents Menashe with a choice: he marries again, or Rieve has to live with his aunt and uncle.

Weinstein was inspired for the film by the 39-year-old Menashe Lustig, who plays the eponymous character. Lustig, an internet comedian of modest fame and employee of a neighborhood supermarket in Borough Park, experienced his son being placed in foster care after his wife’s sudden death. After all, the Torah states that ‘it is not good for a man to live alone’. Lustig, not a professional actor, is a natural. The other – almost completely Yiddish-speaking – cast also consists entirely of non-professional actors.

Partly due to their unsophisticated way of playing, the characters easily alternate emotional and witty moments; to put themselves together. Especially Lustig and the disarming Ruben Niborski, who plays Rieve, know how to conquer the viewer’s heart from moment one. Yet Menashe is not entirely spared: his limited self-reliance is closely scrutinized. Can he really not serve better than cake and coke for breakfast? That awkwardness is sharply articulated by a widow with whom Menashe has a date – via the Jewish matchmaker regularly. She sighs how few Hasidic men can do themselves: first they are pampered by their mother and then cared for by their wife. Menashe politely declines his date; he is in no hurry to remarry.

Here we see how the gentle Menashe tries to stay true to herself without consciously seeking conflict. With this, director Weinstein also offers the viewer that option. je need other values ​​should not be approached with a straight leg, you do not have to be right at all costs. But you can pursue autonomy.

That message is extra credible because the situation is not presented in black and white: the strictness of the community rules on emotional matters such as marriage and divorce is critically examined, but Weinstein’s judgment is mostly mild. Discussion about whether or not to sell unwashed lettuce (it may contain worms, ergo: not kosher!) and impractical obligations such as sleeping with the tallit (prayer rug) or skullcap on, cause amazement but also show how it is still are people who follow the rules. People who mainly try to make the best of it.

Menashe is a schlimazel, a klutz, but has a good heart. The bond between father and son is also not denied by anyone. The rabbi must abide by the precepts, but he does not condemn Menashe either. He even eats with played taste of a rock hard, burnt kugel that Menashe made. Even brother-in-law Eizik is not a real bogeyman despite his unyielding character. In this way Weinstein knows how to tell a universal story and at the same time offer a glimpse into a very private world. A very special combination.