Movie Night

So I saw this movie "A Serious Man" yesterday. It was one of those all over the place movies, but it gave an insight into the Jewish community like one of never seen before. I enjoyed that cultural "enrichment" and in the end I think I pulled out a bit of meaning from it.

The opening scene was the strangest thing ever! I thought we had put on the wrong movie for the first 15 minutes... It was a throw back to a Jewish couple is Poland. A rabbi came to visit them that the wife believed died 3 years earlier of typhoid. Because of her strong belief that he had died, she thought that the man in from of her was an evil spirit leading her to stab the man to prove her point... the man bled and left the house... the husband said they would be cursed forever.

The rest of the movie was about a Jewish man with wife and two spoiled children whose life suddenly started falling apart from every angle. First his wife wanted to leave him for another man. Then she forced him to move out of the house. He was attempting to gain tenure at his college, which was in jeopardy due to anonymous letters discrediting him. Then he had a socially awkward brother who continued to get in trouble with the law... The man looked for help from every rabbi at his Temple, yet no one could really give him guidance or assistance. The man wondered how this could happen "he had done nothing." And that was the point of the movie, I think, that sometimes holding fast to a belief and acting on it can bring you bad luck, but doing absolutely nothing with your life and with the blessings that you have can also lead to bad luck and loss of that which is good. Expressing ourselves, living our dreams, and using the talents and skills we each uniquely have is what not only fulfills us as human beings but makes our world the diverse ever changing universe.

A suppose the quirky happenstances of life can lead to the better or the worst situations. But stepping away from them or handling them in the most mature way that you can, should lead to happiness in the end.... Good luck with all the strangeness that life can bring and if you need a slight pick me up in a quirky way, watch "A Serious Man."