Amid much controversy, The Passion of the Jungreis opened in select theaters nationwide this weekend. Critics and moviegoers have sided along opposite extremes regarding this emotionally charged film. However delighted or despised, the intense atmosphere has not failed to attract audiences into movie seats across the country and achieve staggering box office revenues.
The Passion of the Jungreis is a depiction of the tormented lives of shadchanim, orthodox Jewish matchmakers, as they sacrifice themselves for the good of their people. The movie’s graphical and explicit nature features shadchanim, during the final 12 hours before a date, as they bitterly anguish to fix up Jewish singles, no matter how ineligible they might be. This film is not recommended for younger audiences.
The movie’s title makes reference to Rebetzin Esther Jungreis, the nation’s most renowned matchmaker.
“This movie was real emmes (truth)!” said Esther Mirrel Gertler “The world should know how hard it is for us shadchans to clear the market of some of these meek singles. With some of these nebuchs, it feels like I’m selling ‘Lieberman For President’ t-shirts – no one will go out with them.”
A retired matchmaker from Kew Gardens who asked not to be named admitted “You wouldn’t believe the stories I had to come up with just to get anyone to even consider some of these young men and women. I once passed off an unemployed accountant from Flatbush who never shaved as the Chief Rabbi of France. I didn’t even need to explain about the body odor.”
Adding afterward “At one point I was ordering Gan Asia to a girl’s apartment and passing off the Asian delivery guys as her date.”
“As a professional I can tell you this: If you hear the words ‘Sweet’, ‘Interesting’, or ‘Heimish’, you best run for the door”
The opposition, however, is no less emphatic:
“The movie is a falsehood, and a skewed representation of the truth,” declared an upper west side resident who is still single, upon leaving a screening.
“I admire the movie’s attempt at reality by being completely in Yiddish with English subtitles, but there’s absolutely no basis to its claims. Me and my friends have no trouble getting dates…. excuse me-”
The interview was then interrupted as he rushed off to distribute his card to some females on their way to the theater restroom.
“Look at me,” mused a Washington Heights resident, wearing a neatly ironed pair of black jeans, a multi-design Tommy Hilfiger shirt with one tzitzit string hanging out the back, as he sported his cell phone that rang to the tune of ‘Hatikva’.
“I could have any girl I want” whispering afterwards “…It’s true – they are my saviors, I’m making a donation to SawYouatSinai.com when I get home”
“I know that one” quipped a nearby shadchan. “He told me he doesn’t go to movies…”
The controversy of the film most explicitly revolves around its extreme and gratuitous use of violence and gore.
“It’s very accurate” says Miriam Fleischer of the Lower East Side. “If you see your date come to the door with a cast or a splint, chances are he/she didn’t initially think the shidduch was such a great idea”
“9 times out of 10 what you think is acne is probably cigarette burn marks… but we usually try to stay away from the face”
“We also were the ones who first introduced hallucinogens to Upper West Siders,” added her friend Shaindy. “But we work completely by the word of G-d himself. Why do you think He commands us to have wine every Friday night? We are merely His messengers.”
Whatever one’s stance in this tidal wave of debate, one cannot prevent themselves from becoming swept up in its massive controversy.
Said a flustered Mel Gibson after leaving the theater, “Jeezus! After seeing this movie, I fully intend to return to making Lethal Weapon sequels”