Eyes Wide Open

(Kosher) Meat Heads - Ran Danker and Zohar Shtrauss in Eyes Wide Open
 
Time Investment: 90 min.
Return on Investment: 75 min.
 
Tormented Jews are hot right now in cinema. If the Coen brothers’ recent A Serious Man explored the chaotic events of a Midwestern Jew’s life (what do they all mean—if anything?), Israeli film Eyes Wide Open (New American Media) could almost be seen as its companion piece, A Righteous Man, or perhaps a fiction version of Sandy Dubowski’s groundbreaking doc Trembling Before G-d. Eyes deals with Aaron (Zohar Shtrauss), a married orthodox butcher in Jerusalem (black hat and all) who welcomes handsome student Ezri (Ran Danker) into his shop, only to let himself be seduced by the 22-year-old and in turn face the disappointment of his family and the wrath of his community.
 
While the setup seems like an easy segue into a Romeo and Juliet cliché, the film itself (a.k.a. Einaym Pkuhot) is much more difficult and ponderous. Purposely slow and thoughtful, Eyes has more to do with what it means to be a righteous Jew than a gay orthodox man. Aaron’s rabbi is constantly emphasizing that god wants man to enjoy life—be it from wine or sex. But when word gets out about what may be happening in the butcher shop, the neighborhood threatens to expel Aaron unless he gives up Ezri.
 
Instead of making a point for or against the contradictions of religion, female director Haim Tabakman wisely explores the confusion in god’s laws but also in the system that teaches and enforces them. Is the righteous man the studious but miserable father and husband or the outcast who follows his heart?