Every blessing brings an accompanying curse and every curse bears a covert blessing in Ushpizin, a compelling comedy-drama written by and starring sad-faced Shuli Rand, a popular actor who left the business after becoming ultra-Orthodox, then returned to film only after getting permission from his rabbi.
The film opens on the eve of the harvest festival of Sukkoth in a tight-knit Orthodox Jerusalem enclave; the ingratiatingly hangdog Rand is in a profound funk over his inability to either financially provide for his wife (Michal Bat-Sheva Rand, his real-life spouse), or provide her with children. Then seemingly out of nowhere comes a gust of good fortune: The couple receives a gift of a thousand American dollars and a sukkah, or temporary dwelling, in which to spend the holiday. Just as unexpectedly, they receive a pair of visitors—tall, sinister, combustible Perry Farrell look-alike Shaul Mizrahi and his much shorter sidekick Ilan Ganani. Both are escaped convicts on the lam.
Mizrahi and Ganani have the tight, twitchy body language of people forced to always be on guard, perpetually ready to attack or defend themselves, and they bring with them the constant threat of violence. Mizrahi knows Rand from the dark, violent days before ultra-Orthodoxy and the love of a good woman gave Rand's life direction and meaning, and many of their scenes together crackle with an electric undercurrent of potential bloodshed. For much of the film's duration, it seems uncertain whether Ushpizin will ultimately be a religious comedy-drama about the power of faith and charity, or a tense thriller about the ways in which a violent past can infect a peaceful present. In that respect, the film suggests The History Of Violence reconceived as an Isaac Bashevis Singer-like portrait of a warm, insular community brimming with color and life. Ushpizin's effortlessly authentic depiction of Jewish orthodoxy—and the palpable, almost ecstatic sense of joy its characters take in it—ultimately tips the film's hand. And while the fairy-tale ending the film bestows upon its beleaguered, endlessly tested couple seems a little too pat, it's worth noting that even Job was eventually granted a reprieve.