Israeli director Avi Nesher‘s 2007 film ‘The Secrets‘ (the Hebrew title is ‘HaSodot‘) predates the success of films and TV series whose characters and stories are inspired by ultra-religious Orthodox Jewish communities. It is an environment that has aroused the interest and sometimes fascination of many, for various reasons. The approaches of screenwriters and directors who have created films in what we can consider a cinematic genre of its own are also diverse. A few classic Hollywood movies started from the literature (mostly written in Yiddish) depicting the lives of Jews in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust, a world completely lost in the tragedy of the genocide. Newer American and Canadian films have dealt with the communities who found shelter in North America. Finally, for the Israeli cinema, the theme of the life of religious Jews was dealt with in a broader social and cultural context, in a country of immigrants in which the coexistence of those from all over the world, with different traditions and ways of living their Jewishness often offers conflicting aspects. ‘The Secrets‘ is a film that manages to bring to life on screen a beautiful story, with strong characters, and situations that highlight some of the contradictions of behavior and values of the ultra-religious Jewish society.
Noemi (Ania Bukstein) and Michel (Michal Shtamler), the main heroines of the film, are colleagues in a religious education institution in the town of Safed in northern Israel. The institution itself (‘midrashah’) is significant for the slow progress of equalizing the status of women and men in Orthodox communities. Even if they both study the same subject, only men can ascend to the position of rabbi, while the study of women stops once they get married and start taking care of family and children. The school in the film functions as a combination of religious school and marriage partners matching service. If Yentl‘s character played by Barbra Streisand and in the famous 1983 movie which is a classic of the genre could be split in two, then Noemi and Michel would be the two facets of Yentl. Noemi is intelligent and studious, trying to conquer the fortresses of rabbinic wisdom through study. Michel is superficial in her studies, but has some experience with the world outside the community, her best quality being the fact that she perceives the world with his heart. Michel’s generosity is complemented by Naomi’s depth. The two friends are given the task of helping Anouk (Fanny Ardant), a terminally ill woman with a tragic past. When they learn more about her destiny, they will try to help the foreign woman to redeem her life’s mistakes. The secrets in Avi Nesher‘s film are the taboos the two will have to face, with the innocence and naivety of their age, but also with the moral power that springs from a well-founded value system. These are serious issues from the perspective of religious Jews – the women’s ambition to know and act beyond the status limits imposed by tradition, the use of Kabbalistic rituals, the slipping of the friendship between the two girls just out of adolescence towards a ‘forbidden’ relationship. The treatment sometimes seems a bit simplistic and sentimental, the story is mixed with melodrama in some places, but the approach is respectful and nuanced.
One of the main qualities of the film is that it brings to life a few strong and excellently characterized women characters. Ania Bukstein creates a Noemi who is hard to forget, a teenager who is still looking for her way and still has a lot to discover in life and in herself, but who is guided by intelligence and an admirable moral compass. The young Israeli actress manages to shadow at some moments Fanny Ardant, one of the stars of the French screen and one of my favorite actresses. I also found the role of the rabbiness principal of the school played by Tiki Dayan special. Noemi represents what she was perhaps in her youth, but also what Noemi wants to avoid becoming by conforming to the unequal norms of a society that is changing too slowly. The world of women in the film eclipses that of men, which sometimes seems simplistic and brutal, except for the charming character played by Adir Miller. The cinematography created by director Avi Nesher makes good use of the setting provided by the city of Safed, the most special of the four cities that maintained Jewish wisdom in the centuries of exile, a city where nature combines with tradition, magic and arts. Along with Shuli Rand‘s ‘Ushpizin‘ (with the director himself belonging to the ultra-religious milieu) ‘The Secrets‘ is one of the films of the first decade of the 21st century that presents in a sensitive and authentic way the Jewish religious life in Israel, without avoiding its tough ad controversial aspects. It is a film with many beautiful moments about love and wisdom, about coming to age and about finding the way in life. Recommended.