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 |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Kadosh
Movie Review: refutation
Summary: 1 Stars
There was a request for more factual refutation of the falsities of Kadosh--The movie's premises are:
a. that Orthodox Judaism, which is based on the Talmud, is discriminatory to women, particularly married women
b. that the Talmud considers a barren woman useless and requires her to divorce her husband
c. that a woman may be compelled to marry against her will
I have been unable to find any substantiation whatsoever for either (b) or (c). Either way, neither of these practices exists in the Orthodox Jewish community today.
Regarding (a) - it is true that much of contemporary Orthodox Jewish practice is based on the Talmud; however, the Talmud is not as bloodthirsty as it is often portrayed. Although compiled in Babylonia c. 450 CE, the Talmud explains that if a Jewish court issued the death penalty once in seventy years, that court was considered unusually violent (compare e.g. modern Texas...) Although it neither adds to nor subtracts from the laws set forth in the Pentateuch, the Talmud defines the terms thereof so narrowly that some punishments are rendered quite impossible to give (e.g. the Talmud itself states that the death penalty for a 'gluttonous and rebellious son' mentioned in the Pentateuch, due to the narrow definition of such a character, has never and will never be administered.)
With regard to the role of women, the Talmud is careful to reiterate the obligation upon every man to "love your wife as yourself and honor her more than yourself", "love your wife truly and faithfully and do not compel her to hard work", and notes "it is woman alone through whom God's blessings are vouchsafed to a house"... there are many more quotes like this, all from a document dating back to 450 CE! Gitai's seemingly discriminatory quotes have all been removed from their context. The first example of this is that Meir's blessings in the movie's opening scene have been rearranged to emphasize '...who has not made me a woman', which is a particularly cheap shot. The accusation that this particular blessing is indicative of discrimination has been around for ages, and it has been convincingly refuted for just as long. In traditional Judaism, women are believed to be on a higher spiritual plane than men, and so men have more obligations in order to raise them to that high level. The '...who has not made me a woman' blessing is made by men out of gratitude for their greater number of obligations. Women say '...who has made me according to His will'. Jews acknowledge that 'male and female G-d created them', both man and woman are part of a whole, and neither is intrinsically subject to the other. (...)
If Orthodox Judaism truly discriminated against women, there would be no growth in number of the women interested in increasing their Jewish observance. However, many women ARE becoming more religious; some communities are comprised entirely of the newly Orthodox.
Please reconsider accepting this movie as an accurate depiction of objective reality.
Movie Review: A Distortion of Facts
Summary: 1 Stars
Kadosh was an international sensation for the simple reason that it's subject matter is controversial, with some exotic titillation thrown in for some added measure.As a secular Jew who lived for a while among ultra orthodox Jews, I can assure you that nothing in this film even remotely resembles the Charedi way of life. The ultra orthodox have a well-developed network of outreach and referral services for barren couples. A conversation with any fertility expert will confirm this. I never heard of a single case in which a loving Charedi couple had to divorce by rabbinic decree for any medical reason. The passage in Talmud dealing with barrenness was written in the context of what was socially acceptable at that time, some 1500 years ago.
I was also amazed at how little the Israeli director of Kadosh, Amos Gitai, knows about the intricacies of daily Charedi life. It borders on complete ignorance. To find a much better appreciation of the ultra-orthodox worldview, read some of the books by these renowned secular writers, who grew up in an orthodox community, such as I.B. Singer or Chaim Grade.
Movie Review: I'd rather watch paint dry!
Summary: 1 Stars
I have no idea whether this movie reflects the life of orthodox jews in Mea Shearim or not. The key to my discontent is the badly told story. There are endless scenes of the camera focusing on a face, watching somebody during prayer or just drifting into space, and none of this adds to the story. I don't mind watching a long take of a face, if this face tells a story, expresses feelings, but here these takes seem to be to add time, so the movie can be declared a real movie and not just a short film. Large parts of this movie are even less interesting than watching paint dry. The characters stay completely flat and so does the story, which in itself is interesting, but not in the least explored in its depth. I endured to the ridiculous end, hoping this move would get better. It never did. If you want to be entertained buy another movie, and if you want to learn something about orthodox jews this is not helpful either. If you are into artsy, pretentious movies, or love to watch paint dry, this is a winner.Movie Review: Disgusted
Summary: 1 Stars
First off, it was a bad movie-- scenes were too long, little character introduction, development, etc.
However, I am writing to express my disgust and devastation at a very different issue: Jewish Orthodoxy. Let's just start by saying that there were many, many unimportant details of Jewish Law that the Producer/Director royally messed up. If they weren't even familiar with laws such as the opening scene of waking-up rituals, then how much more so would they be prone to fallacy in their depiction of the real underlying issues that they were trying to explore?!
All I can say is that there were way too many mistakes-- small and large-- to make any point whatsoever. If you want to see a good film about Orthodoxy-- and issues of childlessness, see Ushpizin.
Movie Review: Nothing more than a dirty anti-Semitic lie
Summary: 1 Stars
Every one who has even a little bit of familiarity with a Jewish Orthodox way of life or an Orthodox community will reject this movie as a piece of anti-Semitic garbage.A couple that has no children must divorce? According to the Orthodox Jewish law? This is not true! There is no such thing in today's Jewish Orthodox life.
I am wondering how those people produced this movie in Israel (!) without even making a simple research on the subject. An American movie "Stranger Among us" and a European masterpiece "Left Luggage" engaged much more knowledge about ultra-Orthodox Jews than this Israeli movie! Is not it funny? What a shame!
And who cares about performance? Who cares if this movie is touching or not? The movie is lie from start to finish. Period.