I stumbled upon this winner OnDemand and while it wasn't the most fun to watch (in terms of sheer entertainment factor (even for a comedy)), the content definitely left me pondering for a while. It's a British film from 2010, that tells the story of Mahmud Nasir, a British Muslim who inadvertently discovers that he's actually been adopted into his Muslim family, and was in fact born Solly Shimshillewitz (no idea how to spell that)--a Jew. Mahmud, even though he's more/less casual with his religion, freaks out and proceeds to undergo a major identity crisis. He consults his Jewish neighbor for advice--which leads him to discover things like matzoh ball soup and Yiddish instead of the Torah and synagogue--all the while trying to prove his strength in Islam to impress his son's future father-in-law.
The film does a good job making light of a topic that is--and has been--very heavy and complicated for a long time (to say the least). In the end (spoiler alert) Mahmud ends up siding with the way he was raised, not the way he was born, and it's not because he's denying his Jewish roots, he does his fair share of open-minded "research." Regardless of why he chooses to remain Muslim, I appreciate that the character shows an open mind, an interest to learn, reveals how similar these two communities are, and ultimately how fabricated all the hatred is. The take-away is that we can actually find friends out of those we originally (and prematurely) considered enemies. We can find similarities where there were once differences, and we can ultimately house "opposing sides" within one body.
Hmmmmm.....
See it and tell me what you think!
Wow what an interesting story. I will for sure check it out. Thank you for sharing.
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