Movie Review: Arranged

Directors: Diane Crespo, Stefan C. Schaefer
Writers: Stefan C. Schaefer, Yuta Silverman
Stars: Zoe Lister-Jones, Francis Benhamou, Mimi Lieber, John Rothman, Sarah Lord 
Country: USA
In Theaters: Mar 11, 2007 
Running Time: 1h 30m 
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Movie trailer: https://youtu.be/YJ50OHibLq0

From IMDB:
Arranged centers on the friendship between an Orthodox Jewish woman and a Muslim woman who meet as first-year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn. Over the course of the year they learn they share much in common - not least of which is that they are both going through the process of arranged marriages.

I had no idea what to expect when this movie appeared on the recommendation section on Youtube. Usually, I am watching Hallmark kind of movies to accompany me while I work. The kind of a light, nice, happy movie that is good enough to keep me awake but I will forget as soon as I finish it. Well, Arranged is different. It is not your usual romantic comedy movie. It's a feelgood movie that left an impression. A movie with a positive message that sums up in the tag line "Friendship has no religion"

The acting of the two main characters Rochel, the Orthodox Jewish, and Nasira, the Muslim, are flawless. They are so natural portraying the characters. I almost believed it was a documentary movie.

Their friendship started when one of the students in the class mentioned that the two women can not be friends because he heard Muslims want to kill Jews. They see it as the opportunity to teach children about differences and to overcome prejudices through an activity that Rochel come up to help Nasira. They are already suspecting that they have more in common than any other women in the school when they are sitting alone at lunch time while the other women are talking about boys and party. As they get to know each other better, they find out that they are also facing the same thing: their families are arranging their marriages according to their traditions.

I feel the movie on a spiritual level as I happen to be a Muslim living in Europe. I am trying to fit in the foreign country I live in, while not give in my faith and culture. It is difficult when you are the minority and have to face a lot of prejudices. I feel it when people feel sorry for Jews and Muslims living in a "traditional way". It never comes to their mind that by any chance it is their choice to live according to their faiths and it fits them. This view was portrayed by principal Jacob, the principal of the school where the two women work as teachers. She disapproved the two women's lifestyle. She assumed that Nasira was wearing a hijab because her father forced her to do so. She thought she was helping them when she was trying to give them money so that they could buy "normal" clothes.

People feel sorry for me because I am wearing hijab, especially in the summer. I got bullied when I was wearing a burkini in the women's day bath (my bad not knowing that most of them would be naked  XD) Some people told me that it is ok to take off my hijab here because I am far from my country. No, I am not oppressed in Indonesia and please do not force me to try alcohol even it is only tiny-winy itsy-bitsy..yellow polka-dot bikini..

I do understand their prejudice. It is because the little knowledge they have about the subject and all those news on the media. But what makes me sad is that even other Muslims advise me not to be a "too Muslim" here... what the...

What people see as normal is what the majority of the people do. When you are different you are on the wrong side. Why can not we see the differences as something different and that's it. It's not better or worse or negative. It's just different and it's normal.

Anyway, it is not a naive thing to believe that an Orthodox Jewish woman and a Muslim woman can be BFF.  Or friendship between different religions or friendship between religious and non-religious people. It is possible and it is happening in the real world despite what happens "online". ( I am talking to you Indonesian netizen :P)

Oh well, let me close my rambling writing which supposed to be a movie review with this writing by Paulo Coelho:

 

Let me repeat the last sentence:

"If you were to look with more love, you would mainly see what we have in common, then half the world's problems would be solved"