Foreign Letters, Directed by Ela Their (USA: 2012)
By Laurie Baron
SAN DIEGO — Accessibility to films with Jewish themes has never been greater. Before the mass marketing of VCRs in 1975 and the founding of the first annual Jewish film festival in San Francisco in 1980, the only Jewish movies the majority of filmgoers could see were big budget Hollywood productions and the few independently produced Jewish films that managed to get booked at art house theatres in large cities and university towns. As VCRs and videotapes dropped in price, some older and more popular Jewish films were transferred to tape. Video rental chains like Blockbuster, which opened its first stores in 1985, increased the availability of a wide array of motion pictures. The introduction of affordable DVD players and DVDs in 1995 made a wider spectrum of films more attainable to the viewing public.
The rise of premium cable stations like HBO which premiered in 1975 paralleled the videotape and digital revolutions in expanding the inventory of films that people could watch on their televisions. Whereas the aim of the major television networks focused on “broad” casting to mainstream audiences; subscription channels devoted some of their programming to “narrow” casting controversial, foreign, and independent fare. With the proliferation of cable stations, channels targeted at niche audiences like African Americans and Jews have emerged recently. By turning to the On Demand channel of your cable provider, you can find the Shalom Network and The Jewish Channel either for free or for an additional subscription fee. Moreover, Pay-Per-View selections and On Demand channels like Film Festival, IFC, and Sundance frequently feature independent Jewish films from Israel, the United States, and other national cinemas.
The Jewish Film Club (www.jewishfilmclub.com) constitutes the latest way to see recently released Jewish films An offshoot of Film Movement, a club for subscribing to critically acclaimed foreign and independent films every month, The JFC started operating last year. It identifies Jewish films that fit into this category and sends members one of them every other month. Foreign Letters was the JFC’s selection for this March and April.
This charming little movie covers both familiar and unusual terrain. On the one hand, it examines how an enduring friendship gradually evolves between two preteen girls. As is typical OF AN adolescent buddy film, Foreign Letters portrays how the protagonists cope with being ostracized by exclusive cliques at school, develop their first crushes on boys, overcome differences in their backgrounds and personalities, share secrets, and squabble over minor violations of trust.
On the other hand, Foreign Letters gives an international spin to what it means to be the new kids in a small New England town. Ellie, played by the engaging young actress Noa Rotstein, hails from Israel. Her parents have immigrated to Connecticut in 1982 to protest the War in Lebanon which already claimed the life of Ellie’s uncle when he was killed by friendly fire. Though Ellie’s mother blames the war on Begin, this is not a political film and the subject is quickly dropped. Instead, the film concentrates on Ellie’s awkward adjustment to the American lifestyle. Since the disparities between American abundance and commercialism and the high-tech consumer society of today’s Israel are not as great as they were in 1982, the movie serves as a period piece about a time in Israel when Americanization was not so rampant. Ellie’s mother, who is played by director Ela Thier, observes that in the United States people discreetly find out if someone else is Jewish by remarking, “I have a cousin in Israel.” Her father counters that American respect for privacy means no one must reveal his or her faith in public. Ellie is disappointed that most Jewish holidays are not acknowledged in school or on television. Yet she consoles herself by noting there are new holidays to celebrate like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the strange one in December “when people put trees in their homes.”
Frustrated by her inability to communicate in English, Ellie regularly exchanges letters with Shlomit, her “best friend in the whole universe, times infinity,” whom she left in Israel. She saves money to purchase a typewriter to force herself to write in English. Thier cleverly replicates the incomprehensibility of English to a foreigner as Ellie listens to her teacher lecture and all the audience hears is gibberish. Her classmates ridicule the Hebrew pendant she wears and maliciously ask if there are any Israeli girls who are pretty. So it is no surprise that Ellie gravitates to the other distinctly foreign student Thuy Le portrayed by Dalena Le, a Vietnamese American whose parents immigrated to the United States to escape their war-torn country.
Thuy already has mastered English, but lacks friends her age. As an alternative to a social life, she spends her time studying for the PSAT exams so she can eventually go to college. Since her parents are poorer and stricter than Ellie’s, Thuy initially does not reciprocate Ellie’s invitations to her house. As time passes, however, the girls go ice skating, take walks in the forest, and learn the fine art of making prank telephone calls. They declare themselves best friends until Ellie discovers that Thuy lied about her parents forbidding her to play with Ellie on some occasions. She tries to fill the void left by Thuy with her correspondence to Shlomit, but realizes she misses Thuy and makes a personal sacrifice to prepare her for the PSAT exams. In the prologue the audience learns that this is an autobiographical story and that Thier has kept in contact with both of her “best friends.”
This is an endearing first film. Some viewers will fault it for being too slowly paced, but these characters and their friendship require time to mature. While at points the acting seems stilted, this may mirror how acquiring a foreign language and adhering to new social conventions inhibit spontaneous expression. In this regard the main characters are much more animated when they speak Hebrew or Vietnamese during conversations with their families. Foreign Letters conveys no profound messages other than that friendship can bridge cultural and geographical chasms. It endows the mundane challenges of being adolescent immigrants with compassion and dignity. Given the animosity currently directed at immigrants both in Israel and the United States, enhancing an understanding of how they adapt to a foreign culture and language is no small achievement.
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Baron, professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University, is the author of books on Jews in cinema. He may be contacted at lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com
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