Category Archives: Drama

When my wife, of blessed memory, passed away over 20 years ago, I felt totally lost. It was hard for me to imagine living without her. There was a temptation to withdraw from society, to seek solace in memories and to immerse oneself in work to dull the emotional pain. However, the Torah has a different view of the aftermath of losing a beloved spouse. While it is impossible to recreate the past, the Bible clearly tells us it is not good for man to be alone. Life is meant to be shared and the Talmud openly instructs the surviving spouse to remarry even into one’s old age. To be alone as the years advance is not what God wants. The Visitor reminds us of the emptiness of living alone and suggests the remedies that can keep us engaged in life.

The Visitor is the story of Walter Vale, a disillusioned college professor who has recently lost his beloved wife of many years. Since her death he has become even more reclusive than before and solitude is his preferred state. His quiet and predictable world unravels, however, when two illegal immigrants, a white male from Syria and a black woman from Senegal, mistakenly take up residence in his Manhattan apartment. At first he wants them to leave, but recognizing their vulnerability in being sent out at night to find new lodgings, he invites them to stay. Their sojourn in his apartment lasts many days during which a deep friendship grows between him and his tenants.

Walter develops an interest in hand drumming, which is recognized by his tenant Tarek , a Syrian immigrant who is an accomplished drummer. Tarek teaches Walter some techniques which enable him to play the djembe reasonably well. This interest is drumming captivates Walter, indirectly propelling him towards more human connections. He plays with a drum circle in Central Park and shares the rhythms with people of varied cultures. The drum represents a kind of communal heartbeat which links all men together, and Walter breaks out of his aloneness to join the family of mankind.

The story takes a tragic turn when Tarek is picked up by the police and is placed in a Queens detention center. Tarek’s mother comes from Michigan to visit his son in New York since she has not heard from him in a while. When she discovers that he is incarcerated and may be deported, Walter intervenes and hires an immigration lawyer to help. In spite of his best efforts, Tarek is deported, and his mother decides to leave the States to go to Syria to be with her son. Although Tarek is likely to have a grim future, Walter has been transformed by his friendship with Tarek, Zainab,  and Tarek’s mother. He has moved from being a solitary man to a man who wants to connect with other people. The last scene of the film depicts Walter in an underground subway station playing the djembe, making a very loud drum sound, which metaphorically expresses Walter’s new heartfelt approach to life.

Our Sages tell us “not to separate from the community (Avot 2:5).” It is spiritually dangerous to be alone. Solitude can lead to depression and an unhealthy preoccupation with oneself. Therefore, it is good to be involved with others and to feel the distress of others; for one who feels another’s pain shares it with him and, in a sense, lessens the emotional burden of the sufferer. Walter’s attempt to help another makes him into a better man, a man who is alive to himself and to others. Moreover, the Torah tells us in many places to take care of the stranger, the one who is most defenseless in society, for we were once strangers in the land as well. This empathy for the outsider is a hallmark of a Torah personality; and Walter, a very decent man, becomes an even better man when he understands the plight of the stranger and does something to alleviate the stranger’s problem. By helping others, he helps himself.

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There is a scene somewhere in the middle of this film that captures the essence of disability. The central character is immobilized on a bench while a fly perches on his nose. He cannot swat it nor can he tell anyone else to bat it away. Finally, it flies away and there is a sense of relief. The insect is a little irritant, yet it looms large in the face of an absolute inability to rid oneself of it.

When I turned 60, I began to realize that I, too, could not always rid myself of bodily pain or discomfort. It takes time and mental effort to come to terms with a changing body. I experienced little aches and pains, my daily run became more challenging, and I knew that I could no longer be casual about my health. A sense of mortality became present in my life.

This sense of mortality can paralyze someone or spur him on to making every day count, by savoring the moment and appreciating the beauty of everyday miracles. The roadmap is unclear. It is not a comfortable realization to know that one is disabled physically, to know that one is no longer in control of his body. This difficult and painful epiphany is at the heart of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

The film’s opening titles are placed against a backdrop of medical x-rays, foreshadowing the serious medical condition of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the former editor of Elle magazine in France. The movie begins with him waking up from a coma after having suffered a stroke. We see things from his perspective. Everything is in and then out of focus. He sees doctors and nurses and tries to talk to them. We hear what is going on in his mind and we share his frustration and disappointment when he realizes that no one hears him. The doctor informs him that he has a rare condition called “locked-in syndrome,” which prevents him from moving anything other than one of his eyes. This ability to blink becomes Jean-Dominique’s way to communicate with the outside world, and the doctor is optimistic about making progress. But, in spite of the doctor’s upbeat assessment, this is depressing news to Jean-Do, as he is affectionately called by his friends.

Realizing that he is unable to communicate to family, he profoundly regrets some of his past actions or inactions. To the mother of his three children whom he never married, he thinks: “I can never make amends.” To the friend who spent many years in a foreign prison and who calls him when he is released, he wonders” “Why didn’t I call him back?”

His friend, who has suffered four years of incarceration, in a brief visit tells him: “Hold fast to the human inside you. You’ll survive. That’s what I came to tell you.” This conversation stays with him and Jean-Do begins to understand that, in spite of his paralysis, he can still live in his imagination and in his memory, two parts of his life that are free and unrestricted by physical disability.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is an unusual and powerful film. On the surface, it is about a person who suffers a stroke, which leaves him unable to speak or to move his body. In a more universal sense, the film is about the plight of the disabled as seen from the point of view of the disabled person. The first half-hour graphically depicts his realization of his paralyzed state and his initial efforts to communicate to those around him.

All of us have seen handicapped people, but the inner struggle that goes on inside the mind of the handicapped is largely unknown to us. We can sympathize, but we cannot really understand the overwhelming emotional darkness and isolation of one who lives daily with physical challenges. Now, through this film, we get a glimmer of understanding about life lived with physical limitations. Furthermore, it reminds us of the blessings Jews say every morning n which they thank God for the fact that each part of the body is working. We thank God that we can see, that we can walk, that we can go to the bathroom and relieve ourselves. No aspect of our physical life is to be taken for granted.

In this sense, the movie is an instructive teaching tool. It compels the viewer, through its vivid and naturalistic imagery, to be thankful each day for being ambulatory, for possessing the ability to speak and to communicate freely with others.

When a dear friend of mine would be asked how he was doing, he always responded, “Thank God, fantastic.” He did this because he truly felt thankful for the everyday miracles with which he was blessed. Watching The Diving Bell and the Butterfly will make you appreciate life more. Do the math and count your blessings.

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