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A True-ish Story about a Jewish Boy

The year was 1966 and Britain was very much in the news. In March of that year, in an interview published in The London Evening Standard, John Lennon comments, “We’re more popular than Jesus now,” eventually sparking a controversy in the United States. And just a few months later, England would be consumed by World Cup fever. But for Bernie Rubens (wonderful newcomer Gregg Sulkin), July 30th was to be a day remembered for something much more significant. It was the day of his Bar Mitzvah. The day he was to become a man. There is only one problem – it’s scheduled on the very same day England was to meet West Germany in the finals of the World Cup. Oy! What’s a 13-year old boy to do?

The film opens with Bernie standing in front of the “rejection wall.” Unfortunately, many of us are familiar with those bricks – the spot where the geeky kids who are not selected to play on team sports hangout. Bernie has spent an inordinate amount of time holding up that wall – suffering the humiliation of not being selected until after the kid who had polio got picked.

But Bernie is resilient and found great comfort in his Hebrew studies. And this, he reasoned would be a special time in his life. He was sure of it! This was the year that he would be a Bar Mitzvah and all his friends and relatives would acknowledge him for the first time. The quotation, “The best laid plans………” seems apt here.

As every kid dreams of being a superhero in their own little world, so does Bernie. In a shed outside his family’s home, he sets his sights on becoming a master party-planner. We are treated to Bernie’s fanciful daydreams, as he’s being showered with gifts on the big day while illuminated with heavenly lights. We even get to see snippets of his older brother’s party – an extravagant affair with all the trimmings.

Besides the date conflict there are other problems that are revealed as the family dynamics come into play.  His father Manny (Eddie Marsan) suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder and his beautiful mother Esther (Helena Bonham Carter) is too busy tending to his father’s needs to pay any attention to him. Manny and his charming Uncle Jimmy (Peter Serafinowicz) own a local grocery store that is beset by financial problems when a rival moves in down the block. This leads to a change in plans, as the party is drastically downgraded.

The writers deftly weave a touching coming-of-age story with that of a bittersweet relationship between father and son. According to the press notes, filmmaker Paul Weiland dreaded making a speech for his fiftieth birthday party and was so preoccupied with what to talk about, “I managed to come up with the story of what a complete disaster my last big party had been.” Some of the guests prompted him to channel it into a film. “For years, people had encouraged me to do something based around my North London Jewish background,” explains Weiland. “The reaction to my telling the story of my thirteenth birthday was not only a validation of that vulnerable time in my life but also an indication that the story could strike a universal chord.” And that it does.

If you’re very observant, you’ll catch filmmaker Paul Weiland’s real mother sitting behind Helena Bonham Carter in synagogue. The film ends with the video from his real brother’s Bar Mitzvah party. A very nice touch indeed!

Now it’s only a matter of time before the Hollywood remake is in the works. This time of course, it’ll take place in the year 1969 when the New York Mets win the World Series, beating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 1.

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