I was in the mood to kill some brain cells the other night and waste two hours of my life, so instead of getting drunk by myself to wash the pain of my life away I went to Hulu to try in vain to find a movie worth watching. Hulu is home to all the movies that came out between 1981 and 2005 that you have never heard of. The movies on Hulu are so bad that the top viewed movies are Lifetime originals, so I tried in vain until I came up with Arranged, which I only agreed to watch because it was about orthodox Jews – even though I knew from the start that any movie about Jews usually gets it all wrong – especially when it’s about orthodox Jews.
Arranged is about two girls going through the motions of trying to find a mate. There is Rochel who is frum and being set up through her shadchan and there is the Muslim chick I forget her name who’s father brings home perspective matches for dinner. These two girls are teachers at a public school, Rochel is a special ed teacher and the Muslim chick is teaching 4th grade – they become friends based on their outsider status amongst the other teachers who sit and talk about sleeping with random guys and getting drunk and the other “normal” things that the movie director tries to shy that these religious folks feel uncomfortable around.
Remember that I, having seen lots of movies portraying orthodox Jews with clip on peyos drinking manichewitz thought they did a pretty good job with the women of the movie. Then men are a completely different story, Rochel has a good accent and the dress is down pat, her mother and mothers friends are overbearing frummies with snoods and shabbos robes, her father looks like he was taken out of the movie Wall Street and told to put on a black yarmulke, he’s terrible in the frum department, her younger brother looks like a modern orthodox kid who wears one of those velvet yarmulkes with a ring around the side.
The movie is great in that it shows the real pain of a 22 year old single frum girl who is considered old, she goes out on an endless stream of dates with totally whacked out dudes and the shadchan just keeps saying she’s picky because she doesn’t like any of these terrible dudes. The story tries to pack a lot into it, for us Jews we are concentrating on the shidduch and frum aspect to it, but the general population is made to think that the main point of the story is the Muslim-Jewish part, yes they become friends and have that awkward point where they hang out in each others homes and the parents don’t approve.
In her angst of not meeting the right guy, Rochel runs off to Williamsburg or something to find her long lost off the derech cousin to talk about her situation, the cousin takes her to a party and she sips a cocktail and some guy forces her to dance with him – this scene reminded me of the movie Mendy (if you’re interested in the Ex-Chassidim you need to watch it)
Ok I’m not going to ruin the movie, but lets just say they did a very good job with the ladies of the movie, but the men all appear to be out of some 1960-70’s documentary about Yeshiva University or something.
LOL, the Muslim girl’s name is Nasira. :^)
She was a mad hottie too
I liked how the shadchanit referred to her as a “Sefardic” woman. She did a good job dressing the part, and was smart enough to know to get out of there fast.
I literally just finished watching that movie and then went on facebook. I thought it was sweet!
doest work in Canada.
Anon,
Many of the online TV and movie channels don’t work in Canada, maybe something to do with the CRTC.
lol nothing to do with the CRTC.
Illegal streaming sites work in Canada – legit sites don’t want to pay for international rights therefore are geo blocked here.
duh
I saw that movie not long after it came out, and I loved it! Like you said, the portrayal of Orthodox Jewish females was spot on (the men, not so much). For a really God-AWFUL portrayal, watch “The Chosen.”
I just googled a torrent for ‘Mendy’, and I get “Mendy hardcore action with beautiful shemale” I’m assuming thats not the right one.
ROFL!!
thats actually not too far off. they do some crazy shmutz in that movie. i recall a scene where one of the ex chassid guys with a tribal tattoo wraps tefillin around the arm of his naked hispanic girlfriend….
it’s on Netflix too; and I thought it was good.
Heshy, This movie was directed by a women who used to work in show business and then became frum. Some of the actors are religious but most in this film were not. My sister was in one of her movies that was not released to Blockbuster. It was only meant for frum women. It was called the Chair Lady. I still have not seen it because it only played in shulls for women and none in my area.
*woman
*womyn actually
How do I get to watch it or mendy for that matter?
Anyone?
i don’t presuem I can find it in my local blockbusters..
i found it in my local library….
I also took Mendy out from the library
go to youtube and type in friendship has no religion its all online
I thought this was lovely, if a bit unrealistic/inaccurate.
Heshy, did you get my email?
representation of jews in general reminds me of when i watched an old ep of greys anatomy- they show this “frum” girl and 1)she makes a fuss about having the pig part in her heart even though pikuach nefesh comes first AND 2) she got a female rabbi to bless her, and apparently 3) we daven shmoneh esrei while holding our right hand over our eyes.. also, theres something called MIDDOS!! she was crazy!
*misrepresentation
Heshy, since you are out in Cali, try to find out what’s going on with development on the Curly Oxide movie. You should be writing that screenplay.
There were some wonderful and some not-so-wonderful things about this film. I wrote a brief review of it on my blog, in case anyone would like to take a look and leave some feedback.
Everything about this post is cool except the recommendation of “Mendy.” It had a cool concept and story line, but some of the worst production values that I have ever seen. Do to its amateurish style, it is barely watchable.
It is very hard to watch, but the subject matter makes it a worthwhile movie
I watched it a few months ago on Netflix. It was predictable but cute.
Loved the movie despite it being a bit different than reality.
You know a frum woman wrote this film and Produced it. Her name is Yuta Silverman. I went to see it at a film festival and I met her afterwards. I believe she is from Borough Park and she looked like she was from Borough Park. You would think she would be able to help it look as authentic as possible.
It seemed like a pretty unrealistic movie as far as the actual plot went but I liked it. I have to say that I thought they did a pretty respectful job with both religions; if Rochel would have been an apostolic Pentecostal, they probably would have had her dancing naked on the tables five minutes after she walked into the party, and left her parents to deal with the grandchild out of wedlock.
I liked the movie. How many films are there where you see a smart understanding of the connections between observant members of any faith, particularly two in conflict?
But the guest blogger here is an oaf of the first order: “Muslim chicks”?
Please, Heshy, what century do you inhabit? And what does it say about the gender dynamics among Orthodox Jews that none of the other commentators have called him out on this?
I actually have a situation similar to the movie. I’m a frum single 18 year old girl finishing high school and one of my good friends is an Iranian Shiite muslim. Shes already had 3 marriage offers–and i thought frummies moved quick! Its really great to talk to her and compare our cultures. Her parents met 6 times for an “interview” type meeting before they were married.
I thought the Jewish women were pretty accurately portrayed as well. I could relate to the girls’ uncomfortableness around secular values like drinking, partying, topless sunbathing, etc and being criticized by the principal. I find that the harshest criticism comes from secular Jews even though I am happy with my choice to be religious and am not rude or forcing my beliefs/traditions on others. I loved the scene where Rochel gave the principal a piece of her mind! Although probably unrealistic, I thought the whole thing with Nasira getting Gideon’s info for the shadchan was cute, and it is a movie after all so I liked it anyway. I liked the last scene as well. I read a comment on another site about how the last scene was depressing because the girls had “given in to their patriarchal society” or something… But that is obviously based on the commentor’s background/social mores, like anyone else really. I am actually really looking forward to being married and having children, so the last scene was sweet to me. I completely support women pursuing careers and interests outside of the home as well, and was happy to see that 2 religious women of different faiths were contributing to society as teachers.