Noodle

I'm taking Hebrew 101 this semester and for that class I had to watch this Hebrew movie called "Noodle" with a group of students taking Hebrew. It's about a pair of adult Israeli sisters who have a strange turn of events in their life and find themselves taking care of a 6-year old immigrant Chinese boy whom they cannot communicate with. They speak Hebrew and he speaks Chinese. This boy's mom has been deported back to China and the sisters are trying to figure out how to reunite this boy with his mother.

This movie jerks your emotions in every which way. I think I probably felt sad, scared, confused, amused, frustrated, repulsed, exasperated, joyful and probably several other emotions throughout the course of this movie. It was definitely captivating and very dramatic. There were so many twists and surprises regarding the relationships in the movie. The relationships were so mixed up that it was a little much though. I think Israeli culture may have a little more liberal view of marriage relationships or something than we do.

Right after this movie I had to run to an intramural racquetball game. My wife and I are doubles partners and I had had one of those crazy days where I was scrambling to finish a paper for another class in between all of my classes so my brain didn't stop running 100 miles per hour all day. By the time I was at the RB to play racquetball, I felt like I needed some time to unwind or something from the movie. The movie had been so tense and dramatic that my mind just felt busy. It made me think about the power movies have on emotion. I think I am extra sensitive to it or something, but it was hard for me to transition to talking to my wife and playing a racquetball game. I think sometimes people are drawn to movies that elicit emotions that fill a hole in their lives. It's like trying to find fulfillment through some pretended medium.