Tradition, depending on whether or not you’re adhering to or rebelling against it, has a different reputation. To the former group it’s a guide for how to live your life and sets forth step by step instructions on how to handle certain events that naturally arise in life. Its rhythm and constancy provides a sense of comfort, one that those deeply entrenched in the tradition would be afraid to live without. It answers questions before they arise and can become an unquestionable authority for how things ought to be. For some, that’s a comfort, but for some it’s a smothering force threatening to steal a sense of individuality and choice.
Holy Rollers examines a culture that you’d be hard pressed not to notice living in New York City, Hasidic Jews. It’s a social bubble that, while not completely removed from the overall culture of NYC, definitely exists within its own social boundaries and has a life all its own. The events of Holy Rollers actually happened, maybe not to these characters, but the reality of Hasidic Jews posing as drug mules was one of those more clever strokes of genius used by drug dealers in the 1990s.
Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg) starts as, forgive the pun, a Hasidic Jew golden boy with his life clearly on track for the traditional destination his parents wish for him. He works responsibly for his father and has the Rabbi’s blessing to be betrothed in an arranged marriage. There’s nothing standing between him and a life filled with traditional bliss. He has the approval of his father, the love of his family, and a good friend by his side. Some would say he had everything he could want. However, Sam felt he needed more financial security. Sorting silk for his father is a source of income, but will it provide the future for his wife-to-be and their family? He thinks not.
Sam’s traditional life begins to unravel as his work as a drug mule grows from a one-time source of extra income to a booming industry. Soon he’s coordinating other Hasidic mules, party to the business transactions, and leaving behind everything he’d once thought was all he ever wanted. His arranged marriage falls apart, his father scorns him, and the new situation he secured for himself shows itself to be too hard to hold on to. The audience knows it won’t last, but that smug knowledge never detracts from watching this cautionary tale about the merits of tradition.
Said merits, however, need to be taken with a grain of salt. It’s clear writer Antonio Macia never intended this to be a story with a solid message of “Tradition is the end-all be-all of answers”, as it’s clearly shown to be a restrictive existence that prohibits both good and bad forces in the name of simplicity. It wouldn’t be difficult to draw a comparison between the overbearing protectiveness of Hasidic tradition and the debate currently raging over sex education, as this matter actually presents itself in Holy Rollers as well. Before Sam begins his misadventures in the world of sex and drugs, a conversation reveals him to be woefully uneducated in sex and its basic mechanics. He suggests offhand that the Rabbi will give him advice. And maybe he will, but current events and statistics have shown that a lack of education into sex is more problematic than overexposure to explicit materials. There is no teacher like experience. This isn’t to advocate people going out and testing every vice in order to learn, but sometimes curiosity doesn’t kill the cat. Sometimes, the cat comes away wiser for asking the question at all, though maybe not happier.
Holy Rollers would agree with that last statement. Sam Gold wanted extra cash, but he was also searching for something that his traditional lifestyle couldn’t offer. Instead of starting out in moderation (like working on Shabbat) he jumps headlong into the drug trade as it’s the first piece of excitement offered to him. Tradition clearly has its place, but some adjustments clearly need to be made in the face of changing times. The Mennonites seemed to have caught on with the period of time where youth are released to live off their families territory in the big city with the option later on of whether or not they choose to return. The Hasidic Jewish community isn’t so disconnected, but Holy Rollers makes a solid argument that certain parts of the tradition need to be updated to teach the youth to put the world of tradition and the world around them in perspective, so they’re not caught off guard.
Director Kevin Asch creates an interesting visual aesthetic lying somewhere between shakey cam and an almost documentary style chronicling Sam’s venturing into a larger world. There’s nothing that really makes the film’s presentation exceptionally memorable, but at the very least it isn’t just ABC filmmaking. On the other hand, outside of Jesse Eisenberg who continues taking interesting parts in his effort to seem less like Michael Cera’s shadow, the film’s cast does little to make it memorable. The focus stays squarely on Jesse and even Justin Bartha, Sam’s mentor in crime, has little room to shine.
"Holy Rollers" opens May 21, 2010 and is rated R. Drama. Directed by Kevin Asch. Written by Antonio Macia. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha.
