Arranged (2007)

Youth Services Director Noreen Bernstein recommended this DVD.  She was right—Arranged is a great movie and one I highly recommend as well.

Arranged is about two young women working in a New York elementary school.  As one of them tells her family, their school is like the United Nations—all different types of people attend.  That’s part of the beauty of this award-winning film.

The two main characters are Rochel, an Orthodox Jew, and Nasira, a Muslim.  Despite coming from such different backgrounds, the women find commonality in their devotion to teaching and in their personal lives.  Both women are going through their families’ traditional method for finding a husband—an arranged marriage.  And in sharing their concerns and joys, the women develop a strong bond of friendship.

Both women have the strength and ability to stay within the limits of their faith despite the pressures of the modern world.  Rochel challenges her school administrator to accept that being “modern” isn’t any better than being traditional, it’s just different.  And there are modern accoutrements they embrace, like cell phones.  That comes in handy when Nasira describes surreptitiously taking a picture of herself intended to show Rochel.

This independent, low-budget film is delightful.  The movie includes humor, romance, and a lesson about acceptance.

Check the WRL catalog for Arranged.