A Price Above Rubies
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Movie Reviews of A Price Above Rubies
Movie Review: Thought Provoking . . .
Summary: 3 Stars
I enjoyed this film very much, although I can see from the reviews that because it portrays negative aspects of a particular religious culture, it is receiving the usual reflexive denials from other members, as if one is obligated only to make movies that show all cultures as wonderful all the time! For the man who asked what would happen if they made movies like this about blacks and Indians - well, first of all, they did, for decades, and this movie is not remotely on a par with those as reductions of an entire people or culture. Someone who criticized the film didn't even watch it attentively enough to figure out that the ghostly child was Sonia's brother, not her "childhood friend", and then there's the illiterate review by someone who claims to be Jewish but complains about the movie being too Jewish . . . where do these people come from?!
Unhappy marriages occur in cultures the world over, and while the story does expose some of the hypocrisies of Orthodox culture, it isn't, per se, about those hypocrisies, nor does it reduce Orthodox culture to them. It's about Sonia Horowitz's struggle to find out where she really belongs - in doing so she makes huge mistakes and pays a heavy price for her dearly-bought self-knowledge. I've known people who left communities like this one precisely because they couldn't handle the restrictions - that's not an indictment of Orthodox Judaism, it only demonstrates that not everyone born into a certain culture actually belongs there.
The performances are excellent - special mention must go to Christopher Eccleston (a "goy" from Manchester, England, if you please!) for his coldly compelling performance as Sonia's amoral brother-in-law. Eccleston, more familiar to mainstream audiences as the baleful Duke of Norfolk to Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth I, playing an Orthodox jeweler in Brooklyn's Borough Park, is one of those wonderful mysteries of art that one can only be glad about. His fine performance aside, one of the flaws of the film is that there is insufficient background for his character's utter lack of conscience - we are only told through the narration of one childhood incident that he has always been so. Glenn Fitzgerald gives a sensitive performance as Mendel, Sonia's husband, as he struggles to come to terms with his wife's upheaval, and the dawning knowledge that they are dismally unsuited to each other. Renee Zellwegger gives an emotionally fraught performance as Sonia - this actress is talented, but displays now-recognizable mannerisms that she needs to bring under control. However, in this role, as the character is virtually having a nervous breakdown, these mannerisms served her well. The rest of the cast is very believable, as well, including Julia Margulies as Sonya's overbearing sister-in-law.
To say that a "sincere Jew" doesn't ignore his wife, as a reviewer below did, is absurd. Mahatma Gandhi was a terrible husband and parent. Sincere people everywhere do stupid things. Sonia's husband is deeply involved with his spiritual life - Mendel's obsession with Talmudic law and spiritual goodness, while oblivious to his wife's emotional needs and sufferings until far too late, could be transposed to the marriage of any exceptionally dedicated spouse following a cause, career, or religious passion. These conflicts are what give narratives tension and interest.
The film doesn't pretend to be anything but the story of Sonia Horowitz's emotional and spiritual struggle to figure out who she really is. I didn't take it any other way and only someone who is already bigoted would.
The movie is worth seeing, and demonstrates the uncomfortable reality that marriage serves different purposes for different people - one may be content within a strictly defined role, and find all his or her needs met within that role, while another, for no identifiable reason, does not.
Movie Review: Upsetting
Summary: 3 Stars
As a Jewish woman, this film gave me the willies. It's not that I disrespect all Hasidim Jews, as I've never been around them, but I do disrespect all fundamentalist religions, regardless of which ones they are, and this portrayed a very fundamentalist Jewish family. A nutty husband who hadn't a clue about women's sexuality. That didn't make sense. The Kabbalah, four important Jewish mystical books that Jewish men study, teaches that it is imperative that a man must satisfy his wife sexually, and that her sexual feelings come even before his. This is ignored in the film.
This husband is oblivious to anything about a woman. He is an ignorant jerk. So is his brother-in-law, a thief and his snotty wife. What pompous irritating people they are. I doubt that all Hasidim are this way, but I've read a few true stories, and some of this story probably doesn't fall too far from the truth. Thank goodness, the vast majority of all Jews think nothing like they did.
Renee Zelwegger, one of my favorite actresses, who can portray almost any character was very good, and that was the best part of the whole film. Actually, I thought all the actors were good. I didn't understand a few things. Who was the old woman in the black dress? Why did the little boy keep appearing, and what was he supposed to represent? I didn't get that part. The film falls between fantasy and reality, and if you like that sort of film, you will like this one. The best part was that the wife got away from her crazy family.
My advice to her would be to find a sharp gentile non Catholic lawyer so she could a legal divorce and get her son back and away from those crazy people.
Movie Review: Uneven but interesting
Summary: 3 Stars
Renee Zellweger plays against type as Sonia, a traditional Hasidic wife, who yearns for different experiences sexual and otherwise. On her journey, Sonia deals with extended family including a predatory brother-in-law and befriends a Puerto Rican artist (nicely portrayed by Allen Payne.)Along the way, the movie also deals with mysticism in the form of Sonia's dead brother and a homeless woman. Zellweger gives a good but subtle performance in her role.Apparently this movie was a huge subject of controversy when it was released. The Hasidic community reportedly took offense at their portrayal and the casting of the decidedly Waspish Zellweger in the lead role. Perhaps that's why it slipped under most people's radar.
Their concern is understandable. When a group is rarely portrayed in the movies, any negative generalizations are a sensitive issue. But I think the controversy obscures what is in fact the movie's universal message. Individuals who feel that they don't belong in the community in which they've lived their entire lives and how or if they break out of that mold. The problem is not with the Hasidic community but with Sonia herself. She has to discover who she is. Unfortunately, Boaz Yakin may have been too subtle with his message and as a result most people missed it.
For the most part, I enjoyed the movie. Like Fresh, Boaz Yakin's previous film, it's a bit uneven. (Interestingly, Fresh was a source of controversy in the African American community for it's subject matter. Perhaps this is a pattern with Yakin.) It's seems as if the director's vision may have been too ambituous for what he had to work with at times.
Movie Review: Hasidic bad boy Chris
Summary: 3 Stars
The reason to watched this movie is Christopher Eccleston's Doctor Who - The Complete First Series portrayal of the villainous Sender Horowitz, the protagonist's amoral, sexual blackmailer of a brother-in-law. He is simply mesmerizing and so spot-on that I am compelled to periodically watch it just to see him in action, complete with yamulke!
Rubies is a Jewish mysticism/chick flick (if that genre exists) starring Renee Zellweger as Sonia, a Jewess who is very unhappily married to a fervent Hasidic scholar. Renee's blushes and burning cheeks are very overdone. It's hard to believe that the affection starved Sonia doesn't enjoy Sender's sexual attentions just a little given the plot set-up.
The film does a good job of depicting Jewish family life on the lower East side of NYC-Shabbat's dinners, bris ceremony, etc. Julianna Margulies turns in a very believable performance as Zellweger's sister-in-law. Sadly, as the plot progresses the more muddled it gets. Apparently the director is trying to evoke the imaginary aspects of a Marc Chagall painting with Sonia's brothers ghost and a kindly guiding spirit floating around in the plot. However, Sonia's burning sexuality is the snake in this garden. Too bad the director just didn't acknowledge that, it could have been a much better movie since it deals with universal issues, heightened by fundamentalist beliefs. Oh well, bye bye sexy Sender, on to the 9th Dr. Who.
Movie Review: about the movie a price about 3 Stars
This DVD film/movie is selling in Singapore videoshops. I grabbed a copy of it and watched. The story is basically about a woman whom is married and have a baby and her character changed when approach different man which this story uses religion to make her relise what she did was in the wrong but she still did not mend her ways resulting from the first man left her after passing her a box with ruby. This story is actually talking about woman whom are not faithful to their love ones but this round using religion to reason out with the story character so that they could mend their ways only. This story is recommended to those whom are interested in this genre of DVD film/movie.N/B: This kind of film/movie often result in a country's film/movie or DVD film/movie rating to be affected. Especially the R for those whom enjoy watching film/movie.
Review by:
(Dr)Ang Poon Kah (Sugi Nomoyoshi)
Rogue University Professor Certificate
Imagine entertainment for film/movie the Da Vinci Code.
Zakkers film director.