Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

So, two girls from traditional families, one Jewish one Muslim, discover they have much more in common than anyone imagined. Sadly, this movie is nothing more than the heartfelt wish, of the writers and director, for how the world ought to be, not how it really is. Do not confuse this movie for reality.The girls are attractive, the acting is good, the sentiment is sweet, and I enjoyed the scenes of Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, a place I know fairly well. But to call the movie sophomoric is to give sophomores a bad name.Yes, of course, individuals are the same everywhere, but this explains almost nothing about the world we live in. If everybody wants to be left in peace and to mind his own business, why are there wars? Why do husbands beat wives? Why do mothers abandon children? Ethnic cleansing? Jihad? Crusades? Etc., etc., etc. The world is more complicated than two young women who want to marry for love. Considerably more complicated, and a lot nastier.Rachel and Nasira teach 4th grade at an elementary school in Brooklyn. Early in the movie, the children wonder about the teachers working together, and one students asks, "Don't the Muslims want to kill the Jews?" and the movie is off and running with its basic message that people everywhere are the same and all the unpleasantness is just a terrible misunderstanding.There is no misunderstanding. Lots of people have lots of ideas, and not all these ideas are sweet and generous. One poignant moment came when Nasira rejected the first suitor her father chose for her. Her father understood (so arranged marriages are alright). Well, fathers sometimes do understand. But twelve year old Afghan and Yemeni girls marrying 40 and 50 year old men is proof that fathers sometimes do not understand.If Stefan Schaefer and Yuta Silverman (the writers), and Diane Crespo (the director), want to do more than "imagine world peace," if they want to strike a blow for world peace, they would do us all a favor by telling how it really is, rather than concocting a fable of arranged marriages.

Nasira and Rochel are the daughters of a Koranic scholar and Orthodox Jewish fathers beginning their teaching careers at a NY elementary school, who are drawn together by their common experience of belonging to conservative religious communities. The film's title focuses on the issue of arranged marriage, but the two women are only subjected to fairly mild forms of arm-twisting associated with this patriarchal custom. The main theme is their friendship across a cultural divide, which provides support as they resist the school principal's disapproval of their beliefs and parental pressure to marry.Nasira's father is portrayed as a traditionalist who simply cannot envision his daughter's future without marriage and children. He offers only minimal resistance when Nasira rejects his chosen prospect - and the father-daughter relationship appears to be strengthened by the episode. Meanwhile Rochel resists a comical onslaught from her mother and a gaggle of marriage arrangers when they present her with a parade of socially inept suitors. Her mother bullies her with warnings about family disgrace and lifelong spinsterhood, and blames her for her father's rising blood pressure.Francis Benhamou and Zoe Lister Jones deliver fine performances as Nasira and Rochel. They are backed up by their support cast as the screenplay and direction navigate a narrow passage between melodrama and realism. By the time the story reaches its conclusion, only the most stubborn cynic will remain immune to these unusual heroines.

It's hard to say why this movie is not as bad as it sounds. The story of two teachers , a young Muslim woman and an Orthodox Jewish girl, who become allies against the stereotypes they encounter and who end up best friends, sounds like a Hallmark tale--all sugar and spice and everything nice. And the idea of arranged marriages working out well for both sides is also somewhat of a cliché. However, this movie somehow manages to be heartfelt and it contains some nice moments. The two young actresses are very convincing in their respective roles and the atmosphere in the Jewish family is captured quite accurately...maybe because the writer/director knows that milieu well.It's refreshing to see such a positive depiction of a traditional Muslim family in the climate of so much anti- Muslim propaganda. But they seem too good to be true. And the ending suggests that it is women who really "rule" the world by manipulating their "weak" husbands, a very annoying stance to say the least, and one which does not fit the film as a whole.This is a nice little film which would have done better had it avoided some of the very stereotypes it sets out to dispel.

Arranged is a feel-good movie with a message. The story concerns two young women who are teachers in a Brooklyn, New York, elementary school. Nasira, the teacher of the fourth grade class is a woman from a traditional Muslim family. Rochel - from an Orthodox Jewish family - is the special needs aid from a legally blind boy in the class. The students raise the question as to whether the two hate each other because it is the understanding that all Jews hate and want to kill all Muslims and vice-versa. The two women become close friends while working together to dispel these prejudicial thoughts of the students.Both of these young women are bright, caring people in touch with society, but they are both from traditional families that share the common tradition of arranged marriages. Thus, they are both suffering the crisis of being modern, vital women bound to a tradition of an ancient time. However, they are both respectful of the tradition and their families.I must admit that watching this film was somewhat of an education for me. Personally, I pretty much disdain the practices of organized religions because history has witnessed so much harm committed in their names, but seeing these two young women work out their problems was very insightful. There is an interesting character in the film who pretty much expresses my thoughts - and probably the thoughts of many others not privy to the intimate feelings of those who observe the guidelines of traditional religions. The character is Principal Jacoby. She cannot understand why these two smart young women would harness themselves to traditions that are so far removed from modern society and liberated women. Unfortunately, Jacoby's thoughts are expressed in a less-than-cordial way - shocking but with a comic touch.An ironic twist to this film for me comes from a recent conversation with my brother. He's not as avid a television drama watcher as myself and was saying to me recently that he hadn't watched much on television lately, but when he did, it seemed that it was usually some program from the Law and Order stable of shows. After I had watched Arranged, I happened across a Law and Order repeat in which the actress who played Rochel was featured. I had already recognized the actress who plays Principal Jacoby as a repeating character on the series, so I decided to do some research. Of the fourteen leading actors in Arranged, nine have appeared in some form of Law and Order, and some have played repeating characters. One of the major reasons that the Law and Order programs have been continuing successes is the quality of the acting. That quality extends to Arranged.Principal Jacoby is played by Marcia Jean Kurtz whose most memorable Law and Order role was that of Carla Lowenstein - first played in 1990 and reprised in 2004. She played the emotionally abused wife of a noted doctor who abused and murdered his child. I cannot remember the names of the "ripped from the headlines" real doctor and wife, but Kurtz's performance was shocking and unforgettable. In Arranged, she shows her considerable range.Rochel is played by Zoe Lister Jones who gives us a woman who is outwardly shy but in possession of keen insight and an independent spirit to be truly admired. She is a beautiful and highly competent actor.Francis Benhamou (not a Law and Order alum) plays Nasira as a woman bound to tradition but with a spark and wit not to be dimmed by obstacles that arise. She is a delight to watch in this role.The DVD is distributed by Film Movement (filmmovement.com). If you are interested in independent films, you might wish to check them out. I have not always enjoyed the selections of this group but one thing I can say is that all of their films are certainly interesting.Many people feel is that you cannot take seriously a movie with a happy ending because life in general does not have a happy ending. I generally tend to agree that most lives do not have happy endings but there's nothing that says we cannot enjoy the thought. Arranged certainly gives you that enjoyment.