I was burning to see Leona the debut movie by Isaac Cherem (here is a YouTube Q&A with him), after reading a couple of reviews and the general outline of the topic. It took me a couple of tries and a bit of extra searching, but finally was able to watch it on Vimeo and all the efforts were worth: this movie is one of the best I´ve seen in a long time, especially on a Jewish topic.
The topic: Ariela (Leona, in Spanish), a 25 yo mural artist, belongs to the very strict and closed Syrian Jewish community in Mexico. Under pressure to date and eventualy marry a local Jewish guy, she fell in love with Ivan, which creates a drama in the family and community, with her actively dating mother kicking her out of the house. When they broke up, everyone almost threw a party, but her efforts to find a Jewish partner failed again.
The story of this relationship reverberates into the identity and history of resilience of the community itself. Shortly after Ariela made public her relationship, a rabbi, a kind of marital consultant, her relatives, her mother, all are trying in different ways to convince her to give up. ´You are with someone who thinks very diferent from us´, she is told. ´Not that different from me´, she answers.
At the beginning, the dynamics between Ariela and Ivan are set by their different identities: He asks her ´are you very Jewish?´ ´Normal´, she answers, and there is a long silence between them. He shows her the city outside her familiar neighbourhood, sharing with her his food spots and even a bag of lemon sprinkles grasshoppers (some are kosher though).
They broke up after she could not keep her word to introduce him to her family and circle of friends. After all, she was the one who gave up and left her community but it seemed that it was not enough. Or was a deep communication failure between them. But it was over as soon as they started they life together. It hurt a bit to break up, but both of them kept walking their separate paths but this is not the end of the story.
The Jews featured in the movie are not your typical observant Jews. They do not dress or eat or behave as in Brooklyn, but they have the same cohesive sense of belonging. They are aware of their strength built by their common history and refusal of assimilation. (Actually some Syrian Jewish communities are a bit extra than any other community, by being reluctant to marry other Jews, particularly Askenazim, not accepting converts. Hopefully, one day I will have enough time and serious material to delve more into this topic. Currently in Mexico there are around 16,000 Syrian Jews, with a continuity of over 100 years.) From the point of view of the Jewish law, the Halacha, if Ariela would have marry Ivan her children will continue to be Jewish. But Ariela doesn´t want children, doesn´t want to be married, she has enough of all the ridiculous dates she is set up by friends and relatives. Her divorced mother is intensively dating, with almost the same results (Shidduch crisis, anyone), but she is not considering looking for a solution outside the community.
Leona raises so many questions both at individual/personal and community level, but leave us to think about them and eventually ask even more and more questions. People fell in love all the time, but it is love enough to leave a community, the exclusivistic club the rabbi in the movie mentioned ? Is love enough for connecting two people, or there is more to it?
Besides the artistic conception, and the good play of Ariela which is such a natural, carefree yet thoughtful character, the beauty of this movie resides in the curiosity of exploring the inevitable layers of making choices outside the normative. It´s a very beautiful artistic way to ask so many painful questions.
Rating: 5 stars
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