"The LORD gave and the LORD has taken
away; may the name of the LORD be praised."The Coen Brothers new film "A Serious Man" is, perhaps, the greatest movie I have ever seen that deals with Judaism and ultimately, faith and religion. It asks all the right questions or rather points it's finger at God and says, there are no answers readily apparent and if there are, God's not talking.
Larry Gopnick ( Michael Stuhlbarg in a spectacular first leading role ) is a very likable physics professor who tries to equate it to his life. "It's a proof. It's mathematics." However his life cannot be explained by a probability map ( though his brother has made one that is fail proof ) and he is in need of great advice. His wife decides to leave him ( for reasons we never really understand ) saying it is nothing either one has done but simply that another man has " come into my life." That man is Sy Ableman. Sy is well respected in the community and is portrayed as a man with a big heart. This is despite the fact that he is taking Larry's wife away from him. He is actually the only person in the movie to comfort Larry, his only solace. That is short lived.
Larry's children are completely ungrateful, they do nothing but bicker and complain the entire film. His daughter steals from him to save up for a nose job and cares about nothing more than washing her hair and going to "The Hole" ( a club ) and his son's only intention the whole film is to smoke weed as much as possible ( he is only thirteen ) even during his Bar Mitzvah. Arthur his brother who lives with the family, sleeping on their couch is a compulsive gambler and a closeted
homosexual. When he curses God, Larry perhaps out of some religious compliance, defends God saying " sometimes you have to help yourself." His neighbor on the right is a racist, and on the left is a lonely housewife who it seems is up for anything. Through all of this, Larry perseveres, never once accusing God of wrongdoing.
A Serious Man is a darkly humorous film. There are quite a few awkward moments in fact it's chock full of them. The funniest being that he goes around saying " I haven't done anything." A true statement for all we know and we know the feeling. Very much unlike the actual story of Job where there is no humor to be found.
The difference between Larry and Job primarily is, Job physically requested a response from God. He didn't demand it, but he still spoke directly to him. Larry, being a present day Jew (1967)
of course doesn't believe in approaching God directly, and is limited to the words of Rabbi's from
his synagogue. These sessions get him nowhere and, if anything, only exacerbate things. These men give him what they think he needs. The first misunderstands him completely and projects his own wants and needs on him. The second, tells him a story that it turns out is his "fall back" story. It has no importance whatsoever for this or perhaps any situation. And the final Rabbi is to busy caught up in his own religiousness to even give him an audience. Leaders of the faith they may be but when it comes to understanding God, they are worse off than he is.
God is nowhere to be found in this, as far as an actual answer goes. To quote Job " If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? My eyes will never see happiness again." If God can create a man simply to punish him for something that is human nature what chance do we have. The Coen's seem to take the stance that God allows negative things to happen to good people without interfering. And when a righteous man at his most vulnerable moment falls, God is there to personally destroy him.
