Kadosh
|
List Price: Our Price: $16.14 You Save: $13.81 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.30 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Kadosh
Movie Review: Compelling acting by the leads, but...
Summary: 3 Stars
Having no knowledge about the inner workings of the Jewish Orthodox community, I was intrigued by some of the works I have come across. First, I read Hush, a novel which touches on the abuses against children in the Jewish Orthodox community. I have also watched Arranged which explores the lives of two young women living in orthodox communities, one is Jewish and the other is Muslim. Though both the book and movie portray the dark side of orthodox communities, there is objectivity in the portrayal, and it doesn't come across as an outright attack against orthodoxy.
When I saw "Kadosh" on Netflix, I was initially attracted by the premise, which explores the relationship of a happily married Jewish Orthodox couple. Both Meir and his wife Rivka have been happily married for the past ten years. The only blight on their marriage is the fact that they are childless. This torments Rivka, a devout and faithful wife who feels it is her duty to provide Meir with children and she feels awful because she realizes that Meir is subject to his fellow yeshiva colleagues' disdain because he is unable to have a family. When Meir's Rabbi father insists that Meir take another wife, things spiral downwards very quickly. Rivka is shattered, and when a visit to a doctor reveals that she is not at fault for her barren marriage, she feels worse, but is unable to challenge the Rabbi's decision given his word is law. Then there's the sub-plot of Rivka's younger sister Malka. Beautiful and strong-willed, Malka has a secular Jewish boyfriend who was ostracized by the Orthodox community when he left to join the army. Malka's life too is portrayed as being oppressed and ruined by the Rabbi who marries her off to a brutish yeshiva student named Yossef. Despite being subjected to violent and awkward sex, she appears to tolerate her life until she hears of Rivka's fate.
Not being overly familiar with the rituals and life of the Orthodox Jews, I cannot comment on the accuracy of the portrayal here. What captivated me was the intense performances of all the leads in this movie - Rivka and Malka are well-portrayed by the two actors who play these characters, there is a depth of emotion that connects the viewers to the two characters and makes us sympathize with their plights. The men in this movie appear to be secondary characters,to serve as props for the women's stories. I did sense a strong and virulent bias against the orthodox community in this film, and I'm not even Jewish. On the whole though, this was a compelling drama and it would have been a lot more credible if the director had maintained objectivity in telling the story.
Movie Review: A Balanced Review
Summary: 3 Stars
I had mixed feelings about this film but I think it's important to explain that there is a difference between the Orthodox Judaism that is practiced here in America (and probably most other countries) and the Orthodox Judaism that is practiced in Israel. There, it is the most fundamental type of orthodoxy that one can find. It is not imposed that a man must divorce his wife if she cannot bear children, but the pressures are very real. In America, if an orthodox woman wasn't able to get pregnant, the family would not turn their back on the possibility that it might be the man who is sterile. In fact, most of the events we see in this film would not happen in our society. Nevertheless, the misogynist words that men say every morning in their prayers, the fact that women are considered 'unclean' and untouchable during menstruation and so on, is part of all orthodox Jewish belief. Ironically, many of the viewpoints of women in the orthodox Jewish religion are very similar to those of the beliefs in fundamentalist Islam (thankfully, orthodox Jews do not castrate women!). I think this film has valid viewpoints on fundamentalism. The film isn't anti-Semitic, it is humanistic. Orthodox women in Israel are terribly mistreated. They know that to leave their community means losing family and all that they've ever known. They are brainwashed like all people who are told not to question their religion, that they would be turning their back on God. Thus, they take their pain out on themselves instead of their community. Many people tend to look the other way when one brings up the misogyny present in Orthodox Judaism. Would they do so if the tables were turned and it was women who thanked God they were not born a man and considered their men unclean several days of the month and so on? If one race subjugated another the way women are subjugated in most fundamentalist religions, there would be a major outcry the world over, but most people tend to feel that subjugation of a woman is basically okay. In the name of 'religion', it is never questioned. No religion is bad, but any community that does not allow one to question the rules of a religion is very, very dangerous, be it Jewish, Muslim or Christian. I find it sad that people in the Jewish community can't accept any form of criticism about a branch of their religion that does exist in parts of the world. This is not a great film from an artistic viewpoint, but it is obviously an important eye opener for people who have a belief that Judaism, as well as all religions, should be balanced and humane. If you don't like what you see, criticize those people who even allow the philosophy that women are inferior beings into their religions. Those roots are there, everywhere! As long as they are not questioned, there will always be those who will use them literally.Movie Review: Mixed feelings about this movie
Summary: 3 Stars
First of all, let me just say that I liked this movie. It was a good story about two women who were sad for different reasons. One was sad because she couldn't bare children, resulting in her husband being forced to marry someone else. The other, because she was forced to marry a man she didn't love or even like.
Meir loved his wife deeply and tried to resist marrying another. However, his strict (perhaps extremist) religious beliefs made him think he was sinning by living with her (Rivka). His spritual leader cared for nothing other than bringing more Jews into the world (and not just Jews, but Jews who viewed the Torah the same way he did) because the days of Messiah were near. Nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that Rivka, who was also a devout Jew, was getting kicked to the curb in the process. It was thought provoking and really made me consider how women have been treated throughout the ages. And of course, all faiths and non faiths are guilty of this.
On the other hand, there was something I didn't like. I felt the movie only focused on portraying the Haredi as a bunch of chauvinist jerks. I have met and read books by Orthodox Rabbis (though I've never known any Haredi) who would never tolerate any of this in their community. I would venture to say most, if not all, Orthodox believe a woman is FAR MORE than just a child bearer, cook, and housekeeper. Neither is more important than the other (if anything, the women and children are more important). But of course, there are going to be some bad apples in every bunch.
So where do women fit in? We Americans have created much confusion when it comes to the position of men and women in the home and community. I'm not saying I have the answers or that I think women should be cooking at home. But I am saying that we tend to be the opposite extreme of what this film protrays. And so, it's thought provoking in the sense that it really makes one wonder, what are gender roles supposed to look like? Perhaps there should be no gender roles. But if you believe there should be, what should they look like?
And so, it was very thought provoking and entertaining. If you know nothing about the Jewish culture (other other cultures in general), I wouldn't recommend this film. It will probably do little more than reinforce already-existing stereotypes out there.
I don't believe this movie has an official rating. Though there is no nudity, there are very many "martial moments" as well as a disturbing one (the wedding night) and a scene of some spousal abuse. I would recommend seeing it without the kids.
Movie Review: Saddest movie, tear jerker
Summary: 3 Stars
The ending was the saddest ending I ever saw.
This movie made two fatal errors in reaching the level of horror that it achieved.
First, no man, no rabbi, no rabbinic court is allowed to tell a man to leave his wife for not having childing. It says clearly in Jewish law that it is forbidden to ask a man to leave his wife.
Second, no man, no rabbi, no rabbinic court is allowed to force a woman to marry a man. A woman can only get marry by free consent. Without that clear, freely accepted act of accepting the ring, the marriage is illegal. THese matters are simple and clear.
The rabbi in this movie ended Meir's marriage by revoking his marriage contract. There is no such thing as a marriage contract. A woman and man are bonded as if they acquire one another, not contractual promise, as in the common law. A man cannot divorce his wife without her freely accepting the legal and complication process to undo that bond.
Just as incorrect, the wedding ceremenoy in this movie did not show the act of giving the ring. I was hoping that she would not accept it. That is when and how a marriage begins, everything else is irrelevant.
By leaving out the two things that begin a Jewish marriage and end a Jewish marriage, the director turned perhaps the strongest Western institution, the biblical marriage, into one of repression.
Movie Review: beautiful film, depressing and sad topic
Summary: 3 Stars
As a secular Jew I admit to not knowing any ultra-orthodox here in the USA or in Israel. But I think the plot is more about gender roles and extreme, exclusionary beliefs, than the Jewish religion per se. The bleak dreariness of the the lives of the extremists in the film seem not so different than extremists of any religion who believe that they have the only path to the ear of their god. But is the fanatic husband any different then many men of any creed one hears on talk show, reads about, or might even meet? Men who believe they are the superior gender; that women are merely objects, &/or "baby incubators"? If this were not true, why did we need a women's movement in the first place. As a woman, I can tell you that my own father (not an orthodox or a zealot) believed the Only good reason to send a woman to college was to "marry a better class of man", another mythology. Many good men never go to college. I was expected to get my MRS, not my BA & MS. (Hopefully, it is not necessary to point out: not all men are chauvinists) Whether a barren woman must be divorced or not, it is the sister's devastating passiveness and loss of hope of any life that is tragic. The younger sister leaves the horrific conditions of her life with a look of hope, and perhaps, even, a bit of a smile.