Nora's Will (2010) — Mexico

           A friend recommended this black comedy to me after she watched it at her synagogue. Ms. Mariana Chenillo won the award for best director and the film earned an Ariel for best picture in the Mexican equivalent of the Oscars. When Nora died, her husband Jose was left with the task of helping a disparate cast of family members find closure. That was hard because they were married for thirty years and divorced for twenty. The Orthodox Jews descend on the house with strict rituals about burial. The housekeeper Fabiana places a Catholic rosary around Nora's neck. Neither the Catholics nor the Jews will bury Nora because she committed suicide. And Jose doesn't believe that God exists. Crazy Aunt Leah comes to cook, the son Ruben and wife Barbara arrive from Dallas, and two grand daughters ask all the powerful questions that kids ask. In the end an empathetic rabbi observes, "what goes on in a person's head is a mystery; we must not judge." And so Nora is buried and the family reconciles after a story of memories, regrets, tensions, and humor.