{"id":190,"date":"2019-03-26T09:57:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T13:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/?p=190"},"modified":"2019-06-13T08:38:41","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T12:38:41","slug":"does-love-really-conquer-all-ask-the-matchmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/does-love-really-conquer-all-ask-the-matchmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Love Really Conquer All? Ask The Matchmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Katherine Gianni<\/em><\/p>\n

Matchmaking can occur in a variety of places\u2014on a subway ride, in a crowded bar, or now most commonly, through a few clicks on the Internet. Avi Nesher\u2019s film <\/span>The Matchmaker<\/span><\/i> chronicles many love connections in the city of Haifa, Israel during the summer of 1968, decades before the invention of dating apps and the phenomenon of \u201cswiping right.\u201d In the movie, prospective lovers rely on the expertise of matchmaker Yankele Bride (Adir Miller), to find their next romance. However, the story is not as much a quest for love as it is for acceptance, understanding, and survival.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film was shown last Monday in BU\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences as the third installment of The Holocaust Through Film series.\u00a0Professor of Italian and director of\u00a0<\/span>Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Nancy Harrowitz and Assistant Professor of French Jennifer Cazenave worked together to organize the series this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Associate Professor of Hebrew, German, and Comparative Literature Abigail Gillman provided an introduction to the film and its director. \u201cThe Israeli film industry has really taken off quite recently, starting in the 2000s,\u201d she explained to the group of students gathered in CAS 224. \u201cAvi Nesher has played an essential role in the entry of Israeli cinema onto the global stage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Professor Gillman, Mr. Nesher\u2019s 2018 film, <\/span>The Other Story<\/span><\/i>, was the most seen movie in Israel last year. <\/span>The Matchmaker<\/span><\/i> was released eight years prior and also saw a large success. On-screen, audiences are introduced to many characters in the city of Haifa, which is divided between \u201cthe Carmel,\u201d or upper echelon neighborhood, and \u201cthe low-rent district.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yankele resides in the low-rent district with many other Holocaust survivors. Arik Burnstein (Tuval Shafir), his teenage counterpart, comes from the Carmel. The two form an unlikely bond after Arik\u2019s father, Yankele\u2019s childhood friend and fellow survivor, decides his son would benefit from working for the matchmaking business for the summer. At first, Arik is suspicious of Yankele, his place of business, and those who work around him. But as the story develops, so does their friendship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Others from the Carmel remain wary of Yankele\u2019s character. Meir (Dror Keren) concocts a scheme to destroy Yankele\u2019s business and his reputation after a failed match. This, Professor Gillman said, hits upon a much larger theme within the movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Dror
Dror Keren plays a scorned lover in the film. He will be at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre on Saturday, March 30 at 4pm for a world premiere staged reading of his new play What Life Wants. To reserve free tickets click here.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this idea that anyone who survived the Holocaust must have done something really horrible to survive. There was this suspicion of survivors in Israel,\u201d she said. \u201cThey were marginalized and very much living onto themselves. That was the norm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While Arik is successful in protecting the matchmaker from malice, he can do little to save him from a broken heart. \u201cTowards the end you see love kind of leading to destruction in a way,\u201d Professor Gillman said in a question and answer session following the screening. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow true is everything that happened?\u201d one student asked. \u201cIs the film based off of real events?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s based on a novel by Amir Gutfreund called When Heroes Fly,\u201d Professor Gillman said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now it\u2019s actually a series on Netflix,\u201d another student added. \u201cIt\u2019s really another incredible story about survival.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Holocaust Through Film series continues on April 1 with a screening of \u201c1945.\u201d This event is free and open to the public. For more information visit<\/span><\/i> http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/jewishstudies\/calendar\/events\/<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Katherine Gianni Matchmaking can occur in a variety of places\u2014on a subway ride, in a crowded bar, or now most commonly, through a few clicks on the Internet. Avi Nesher\u2019s film The Matchmaker chronicles many love connections in the city of Haifa, Israel during the summer of 1968, decades before the invention of dating … Continue reading Does Love Really Conquer All? Ask The Matchmaker<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6765,"featured_media":191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[18,11,19,6,16,20,12,17],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}