Suddenly, the temperature in the room plummeted. The scratching stopped, replaced by a sound that made Yakov’s heart skip: a wet, heavy breath that didn't belong to him.
As the clock struck midnight, the ambient sounds of Brooklyn began to fade, replaced by a low, rhythmic scratching coming from the walls. Yakov gripped his prayer book, his fingers tracing the embossed Hebrew letters. He wasn't sure if he was reading to protect the dead man’s soul or to anchor his own.
The film The Vigil (2019) follows Yakov, a young man who has recently left an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and is struggling with his faith and past trauma. Out of financial necessity, he agrees to act as a —a person who watches over a deceased member of the community overnight to protect their soul.