Arranged

I kind of briefly relived the experiences and anguish of an unmarried girl as i watched "Arranged". Totally identified with Rochel, an orthodox Jewish girl and Nasira, a syrian born Muslim who meet as first year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn. They are beautiful, religious, devoted to their families, educated, bright but not so modern as in the real world - neither in their thoughts as in enjoying parties, dressing stylishly or living a "cool" life. They both are a little "serious", if you know what i mean :)

They are of marriageable age and their families begin to put pressure on them to choose from the grooms they pre-select. Obviously, they meet a couple of "characters" whom they dislike and make their displeasure known to their parents. Rochel's aunt, mother and Miriam, the match-maker have meetings to discuss how most girls would be happy with the prospective grooms and maybe Rochel is dreaming of some perfect guy who might not exist. "Who is the perfect guy? You know someone we all wanted : Caring, a good listener, someone who can provide, a good father." I particularly liked all the expressions Rochel makes when she is with a very talkative guy on one of her "arranged dates". Later when Rochel is fed up with all this and says she needs a break, her mother scares her by saying "Your father's blood pressure is elevated because of you. This is not good for your father's health. Your sister pays the price, and has her chances ruined because she has to wait until you feel ready. Two spinsters in this house, absolutely not. You are not considering the big picture." Meanwhile, Nasira's family arranges a groom and things begin to look up for her and she is happy. The groom makes her heart skip beats.

Nasira takes along Rochel to meet her brother at the university library because Rochel wants to get out of the house, the pressure is too much. And there Nasira catches her brother's friend and Rochel briefly looking at each other. Later Rochel tells her that even if he is perfect, she can never take him home, unless passed through the family match maker. Nasira quietly notes the match-makers name, takes a photo of her brother's friend, talks to him saying she has to interview people of different religious faiths, takes his details and hands it to Miriam the match maker, who shows it in the next meeting to Rochel's family mentioning how in a strange way, she got this particular boy's details. By the way, forgot to mention that by fluke, this guy is an Orthodox Jew, what luck!!!

Another scene that i really liked is when Nasira's boy comes home to finalize the marriage. I like the way, her father and mother, holding hands, smiling - simply let her know that she and Jamil has their blessings, that they are delighted. She is ecstatic and replies modestly - "Shukran Baba".

Meanwhile, the ladies are surprised when Rochel says "yes" to the photo and details of "Gideon", the one she saw from afar at the university library with Nasira - nice face, a kind face right? They meet on a date and both don't feel awkward or nervous. Match fixed there too.

There is a brief shot of the two girls getting ready as brides. And the last scene, the girls sitting on a bench in a park, just chatting like happily married wives, tending to their first borns :) A Happy Ending!

Another detail, i forgot to metion is that it was heart warming to see both the set of parents of Rochel and Nasira, very loving and devoted, though their's was also arranged marriages.

Any marriage - arranged or love, when it happens because two people truly like each other and because they cannot live a life without the other is a blessing, however hard troubles or obstacles come along. Does it really matter, how they met? :))