Food has always been a great way to learn about different cultures, break language barriers and find a common bond. The 2007 award-winning Israeli film Noodle illustrates this perfectly: While it deals with serious subjects like deportation and grief, it is also a genuine feel-good movie about love and understanding between two people of completely different cultures. And their noodles.
A Tel Aviv-based flight attendant Miri (played by Mili Avital) is a war widow who leads a well-regulated but emotionally disconnected life. All of this changes when she's lumped with the son of her Chinese cleaning lady. The little boy doesn't speak a word of Hebrew or English, and Miri doesn't know how to communicate with him, which complicates the task of locating his mother.
The scared boy at first doesn't trust Miri, who tries to break the ice by feeding him some take-away Chinese noodles, but the boy refuses the food offering. (Though he later sneaks out during the night to gorge on the leftovers.)
As Miri, with the help of her sister Gila and Gila's ex-husband Izzy, tries to learn a bit more about him, even learning a few words of Mandarin, she little by little gains his trust. The boy soon feels enough at ease to eat with them, impressing them in the process with his noodle slurping and chopsticks technique, which earns him the nickname 'Noodle'.
A breakthrough occurs during lunch at a local Chinese restaurant, where Miri and her little group are also schooled in the art of noodle consumption.
The bond between Miri and Noodle gets stronger and stronger, but will she risk everything to reunite the little boy and his mother? See for yourself (and pretend you've just got something caught in your eye).
Watch Noodle at SBS On Demand now
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It would be hard to think of a better way to watch this heart-warming movie than with a fragrant dish of rice noodles with chicken from our friends at SBS Food.
Chī hǎo hē hǎo!
Find this recipe at SBS Food
Chinese-style rice noodles with chicken, pickled chillies and celery
