JUNE 29 • 2023 | 49
life and history. When they walk
through a Jewish neighborhood
and Jewish men wearing yar-
mulkes call Casey a monster, for
example, he yells back, telling
them to mind their own business.
In a very poignant moment in
the film, Casey and Samuel are
walking arm-in-arm down a Los
Angeles street. On Casey’s back
is the swastika, and on her arm
is a Holocaust survivor.
Tiger Within grapples with two
important questions: How do
we forgive, and how do we keep
ourselves from hating? Samuel
made a promise to his wife, also
a Holocaust survivor, that he
would never hate again. Instead
of leaving Casey to fend for her-
self, he invites her to stay at his
humble apartment. Slowly, both
break down their walls and find
healing in one another.
Still, Casey struggles. She
leaves Samuel to live on the
streets again, working as a sex
worker in a massage parlor.
Finally, as she had the first
time, she has enough of her
old life and returns to Samuel’s
apartment. He teaches her
that the only way forward is to
“embrace the tiger” within, an
old Chinese saying for learning
how to embrace our fear and our
demons.
Yet he gives her an ultima-
tum: In order to stay, she must
remove the swastika from her
jacket and re-enroll in school.
Casey sprays black paint over
the swastika to cover it, and
the pair travel to Cleveland to
receive permission from Casey’s
mother — her legal guardian
— for her to enroll in school in
Los Angeles. Her mother agrees,
and Casey and Samuel return to
California.
“I never had a chance to teach
my daughters how to be a lady,
”
we hear Samuel say.
As Casey makes connec-
tions in school and even finds
a boyfriend (Samuel takes
her dress shopping for her
first date), Samuel’s situa-
tion isn’t so fortunate. While
attending synagogue, he spies
a trio of white supremacists
spray-painting a swastika on
the synagogue wall.
He stands up to them and
threatens to call security, but
before anyone can hear his cries,
Samuel is beaten to within an
inch of his life. Casey rushes to
the hospital, where she manages
to have one last conversation
with Samuel. The next day, he
passes away from his injuries.
While the characters embody
standard stereotypes — a mis-
guided teenager with Nazi influ-
ences and an elderly Holocaust
survivor — Tiger Within is a
heartwarming tale of courage,
acceptance and forgiveness.
Not everyone has a chance to
pick their families, but in this
case, Samuel and Casey find one
another at just the right time.
In the film, Samuel discovers
Casey sleeping in a cemetery.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MENEMSHA FILMS
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