
The image it creates is unsettling, odd, and surprisingly touching – it even prompted a few nervous laughs when I saw the film. The story feels like it exists in the same strange, realistic-but-not-quite world as the film Marty: a place where almost anything can happen if you can imagine it. However, after the story is told, the conversation simply continues as normal. We’re left with this powerful picture of Béla in the darkness, surrounded by people wanting his honey. Perhaps Marty and Béla share this story to show Milton their shared humanity, given his underlying bitterness about Jewish suffering. Marty is clearly affected by what his friend did, but it feels like the story is presented as a symbol of the film’s deeper meaning – a hint at the larger ideas behind Marty’s energetic adventures. The question is, why this particular story? Is Marty trying to gain the sympathy of someone who might harbor antisemitic feelings, or is it meant as a kind of moral lesson?