To land his star, director took a leap of faith
He kept 'Ushpizin' set kosher, used an Orthodox cast
A director has to overcome all kinds of obstacles on the path to filmmaking, whether set-drenching torrential downpours, mushrooming budgets, or small-minded studio heads. But what if your favorite collaborator converts to a religious faith that restricts him from acting?
That's what happened to Israeli director Gidi Dar, whose film ''Ushpizin" opens Wednesday in Boston.
Dar was eager to cast again a man he calls the ''best actor he ever worked with": Shuli Rand. They first met 18 years ago, when Rand starred in Dar's short film ''The Poet," then later in ''Eddie King." But in 1996, Rand joined an ultra-Orthodox movement called Breslover Hasidim moved to Jerusalem, and studied the Torah for five years. He dropped out of the film world entirely.
To lure Rand back to his next film, Dar says, he made some adjustments.
''[I told him] I'm going to do a movie with your limitations,"' Dar recounts over coffee at the Ritz Carlton on the day before the Jewish New Year holiday Rosh Hashanah. '' 'I want to go into this world.' " The result, ''Ushpizin," is a milestone: the first film made by secular filmmakers in collaboration with members of the ultra-Orthodox, and a unique glimpse into this community's rarely seen daily life and rituals.
Tall and slender, dressed in jeans and casual shirt and speaking quickly, Dar, 41, explains that he discussed the project with Rand, who came up with a story based on his experiences among the Breslov. Rand wrote the script and plays the title role of Moshe Bellanga, a devout but desperate orthodox Jew whose core beliefs are challenged after struggles with poverty and childlessness.
''Ushpizin" roughly translates from the Hebrew as ''holy guests." As the festival of Succoth arrives, Moshe and his wife Malli (played by Rand's wife, Michal Bat Sheva Rand) first receive an anonymous donation, which is interpreted as a holiday miracle. But when unexpected guests from Moshe's thuggish, pre-religious life arrive, their obnoxious behavior tests both the couple's faith in God and the notion that Moshe, a convert like Rand, can fully renounce his violent past.
''Normally, when you think of movies, there is a climactic scene that is about violence," says Dar, a fan of Kubrick, Lynch, Herzog, and ''Dirty Harry" films. ''Here, [the climax] is whether Moshe can control himself."
This theme -- how much can a person truly change? -- mirrors Shuli Rand's own transformation from secular actor and writer to devout Jew. ''He didn't change like that," says Dar as he snaps his fingers, recalling Rand's conversion. ''It was a gradual change. But one day he appeared on my doorstep with all the clothing [beard, hat, black suit]. It was a shock." Dar says he respected Rand's conversion, but behind the change in costume and beliefs, he felt Rand hadn't fundamentally changed as a person. ''He was the same Shuli."
The story of ''Ushpizin" ultimately belongs to Rand, who tells it from the perspective of a believer, Dar says. ''He portrays a world in which he sees God, you pray, you get miracles." But Dar says his perspective, as a director, is psychological. ''[I'm interested in] the internal mathematics of the change. I'm trying to follow Moshe's mind."
Before Gidi Dar began production, there was another production hurdle: Rand, whose participation would mark his return to the cinema after an eight-year hiatus, wouldn't act opposite any woman other than his wife. So Michal Bat Sheva Rand, a theater director who had never acted before, was convinced to play Moshe's wife in the film. Despite her inexperience, she pulls off a performance far more nuanced than one might expect.
The final step before the cameras rolled was receiving the blessing of the Rands's rabbi, Shalom Arush. Dar had to sign a contract that, among other stipulations, ensured the set would be kosher and any debates about whether a scene might disrespect the Breslov way of life would be decided by Rabbi Arush, via a ''red phone" hotline. Dar, a secular Jew, and his ''bohemian, Tel Aviv film crew," also agreed never to shoot or in any way work on the film on the Sabbath. (This promise extended to screenings of the completed movie: Friday- and Saturday-night showings, which normally account for 40 percent of a film's theatrical revenue in Israel, were forbidden.)
In exchange, Rabbi Arush let the filmmakers work within the cloisters of the real, urban Breslov. Without the community's full cooperation, filming would have been impossible. ''I shot in some neighborhoods where [otherwise] if you go in with a camera you come out in pieces," Dar claims.
Lending further verisimilitude to the production, all extras are Breslov. In fact, all speaking roles are cast with formerly secular actors who became Orthodox. The most unusual example must be Daniel Dayan, who had once appeared in Hollywood kung fu movies. He plays Moshe's rabbi.
''It was an amazing thing to see such a bond grow between the crew and the actors," Shuli Rand is quoted in another interview. ''In some ways, that experience was an even greater achievement than the artistic success of the film." Rand won both the Israeli Film Academy and Israeli Film Critics Association's 2004 best actor award.
Rand says Rabbi Arush encouraged ''Ushpizin" because he thought it might foster ties between religious and non-religious Jews, who are quite polarized. Indeed, the film has been a hit in Israel, even playing well to Muslim audiences. In the United States, Jewish audiences are virtually guaranteed, especially in New York City, where screenings are being arranged in Hasidic communities. But interfaith connections are key.
Strong potential for crossover appeal is what attracted Picturehouse, the film's US distributor. ''You're trying to screen it for key opinion leaders and religious leaders to build consensus, almost like a political campaign," say Bob Berney, Picturehouse's president, who successfully engineered the marketing of ''The Passion of the Christ." ''We're also sending [''Ushpizin"] out selectively to Christian evangelical groups."
It seems all you need is to have faith.
''Any believers will appreciate this film," Dar says. ''I wanted [the audience] to identify with the people in the story. We can't think of fundamentalists as bad. Our world is problematic, their world is problematic. That's a good starting point for a dialogue."
Ethan Gilsdorf can be reached at ethan@ethangilsdorf.com. 