EL REY DEL ONCE/THE TENTH MAN

Argentina, 2016, 80 minutes, Colour.
Alan Sabbagh, Julieta Zylberberg.
Directed by Daniel Burman.

Audiences who appreciate Argentinian cinema will be familiar with the name of Daniel Burman. He has made quite a number of films and has received many awards, including Ecumenical Awards.

What makes his films distinctive is that, in a culture which is so Hispanic with traditions of Catholicism, they offer stories of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires (one of the few cities in the world where you can find Kosher Mc Donald’s - which is not open on Sabbath).

His stories are about families, family chronicles, the ups and downs of marriages. It is not quite the same here. Rather, the film opens in New York City where Ariel is engaged to an American dancer, wants her to come to Argentina to meet his father, but has to return without her – although his father is demanding that he bring sneakers with Velcro connections for a patient in hospital. (He can’t find them in many New York stores and so has to try when he gets back home – unsuccessfully).

The structure of the film is seven days of the week, starting Monday, moving through to Sabbath and to the celebration of Purim. It is a kind of cinema diary for Ariel and his activities.

In one way, the activities are fairly straightforward but, on the other hand, all kinds of complications arise. The reason for this is that his father has established a Foundation in the city to cater for the needs of the Jewish population, ranging from supplying food to distributing different kinds of medication to supplying legal advice. And there are always crowds at the Foundation – especially when there is a crisis in the delivery of meat!

Actually, we don’t see the father until the end of the film, he is so busy. He talks with Ariel on the phone and usually is asking an extra favour. For some moments, to help the audience appreciated, Ariel remembers his childhood, cookies and lathering the caramel spread, putting the cookies together, splitting them and choosing the one that had the most spread on it – and then his father, always attentive, nevertheless chooses to give up a school event of Ariel’s to go to become a 10th man, to form a proper Jewish group, at a funeral.

Being available for others is part of the ethos of father and son.

There are quite a number of amusing moments, especially the young man in hospital refusing to have shower or two until he gets a soft towel, demand sporting newspapers and complaining when they are too old and is preparing for an operation – although it is he who gives the audience the explanation of Moses and the need for a 10th man to form a proper group. There is also the gay man who is eager to have a Bar Mitzvah the rabbis are unwilling.

Then there is Eva, working at the Foundation, her father supplying meat, she being considered a sacred person and untouchable – at least up to a point until after some rituals are performed. Ariel and Eva get on particularly well – so what is going to happen to the fiancee who keeps in touch by phone?

And, that’s basically it, a week spent with Ariel, a week spent at the Foundation, a week of imbibing Jewish spirit with different characters, rituals, songs.

1. A film of the Jewish community in Argentina, Buenos Aries? Inviting the audience in to the world, the community, the characters – and sharing the experiences?

2. The title, the focus on the importance of the 10th Man to form a Jewish group?

3. The work of the director, his chronicles of the city, of the characters, humour and serious films? Focus on family, religious customs? Bringing them alive?

4. The opening in New York, the bridges, shops, airport? The contrast with Buenos Aires, the city, the crowded streets, the shops, apartments? The venue of the Foundation? Crowds, deals, the apartment of the dead man, the range of ceremonies and rituals?

5. The structure of the film, the days of the week leading to Sabbath and to Purim?

6. Ariel, his age, size, in New York, his dancer fiancee, her audition, the phone calls, her not coming to Argentina? His father wanting him to buy the sneakers with velcro? The memories with his father, as a boy, the cookies, the caramel spread, splitting and eating the one with more caramel? The bonds with his father, his father deciding to be the 10th man at a funeral?

7. Ariel during these days, moving in to the apartment, meeting his aunt, the workers, the crowds at the Foundation, talking with father only by phone, his father always having excuses and having favours to ask? At the Foundation, the medication, the meat, the crisis, the death? Eva and her father? Eva as stern, not speaking, not to be touched? Ariel dealing with all the situations, with the gay singer wanting the Bar Mitzvah, calling on rabbis and favours? At the hospital, seeing the injured man, the man ordering Ariel around, dissatisfied with the shoes, the out of date paper? The new visit, the up-to-date paper, tipping the nurse, following his father’s orders? The man preparing for surgery, getting the soft towel, having a shower after refusing? And his explanation of Moses and the 10th man?

8. Working with Eva, laconic, going to clean the apartment? The rituals, Eva, kissing, the sexual encounter, the night? The story of her pregnancy and the no good father?

9. Ariel and the experience of the week – leading where?

10. The rituals of the Shabbat, Purim, the crowds, the songs, the ethos?

11. The crisis, the need for the 10th man at the funeral, Ariel deciding to go? His being the King of the 10th men? The end, driving, no word from his fiancee, the relationship with Eva, the discussions with his father, his work for the foundation?