JOEL GEHRINGER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, March 16, 2006 6:00 pm
Whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu, you can’t escape the struggle between the discipline of religion and the workings of modern society.
That’s the concept behind French director Karin Albou’s “La Petite Jérusalem,” a film about a young woman caught between her passion for philosophy, her rebellion from her family’s deep Jewish tradition and her love for an immigrant journalist.
Set in suburban Paris, “La Petite Jérusalem” centers on a neighborhood inhabited by devout Jewish immigrants, mostly from North Africa. But the neighborhood also houses a small Muslim community, giving Albou the opportunity to tackle the ongoing Judeo-Islamic conflict in a setting other than the usual Middle Eastern metropolis.
The film is in French, Arabic and Hebrew, but dialogue is kept to a minimum. It seems characters speak only when absolutely necessary, letting mood, setting and tension get the movie’s point across.
Newcomer Fanny Valette plays Laura, who spends most of her time studying the writings of German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Her family disapproves, telling her she is looking for answers in all the wrong places and must only look toward the Torah for truth.
But this pressure from her sister Mathilde and superstitious mother seems to drive Laura as she adopts Kant’s ideas of dismissing emotional urges, and she even goes as far as to take up the philosopher’s habits, including a disciplined nightly walk through the neighborhood’s increasingly dangerous streets.
In an effort to steer her back toward her religion, Laura’s family attempts to set her up with a devout fellow student, Eric.
Predictably, Laura rejects Eric in favor of Djamel, who works with her after hours cleaning the local schoolhouse. Djamel shares Laura’s indifference toward traditional religion, which the couple must hide from their ultratraditional families.
For a 93-minute film, “La Petite Jérusalem” tackles an amazing number of issues, including infidelity, racism and the monetary woes of the family.
In fact, this film could have been set in any country with a family of any religion and the themes would be as poignant.
In its attempt to provide a look into this small community’s way of life, “La Petite Jérusalem” succeeds in proving that people across the world share the same worries, family problems and struggles with society.
But they also share the love of a family, the simple joys of an out-of-the-way adventure and the excitement of keeping secrets.
Language is no barrier in this film. The message is clear: No matter where you’re from or who you are, you’re not as different from the rest of the world as you might think.
Reach Joel Gehringer at 473-7254 or jgehringer@journalstar.com.