The Chosen
|
Our Price: $37.89 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $13.59 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Chosen
Movie Review: The Chosen
Summary: 5 Stars
"Based on Chaim Potok's best-selling novel, this is the story of two teenage boys determined to remain friends despite the deep differences between their two families."
That's what is says on the cover, and it's correct. But here's what I say. Robby Benson, Hassidic Jew, whacking the bejesus out of a baseball. That's one of the films earliest images, and it's a thing of beauty. The other boy is the narrator, and I love everything about this movie. Talented cast, great writing, great story, great dialogue, everything done as it should be done.
The time frame is around World War II and the establishment of a Jewish state, but that's in the background. It's a source of friction between the two families, one Orthodox Jew and one Hassidic Jew, but it's not in your face like all the other well-meaning Holocaust movies that bludgeon you into submission. It's such an important subject that I think many of us are willing to forgive ham-handed handling of it. But this film does it right.
I love this film. I love everything about it. I'm so pleased I can say that about at least one Hollywood movie this week. I will watch it again, and I thought very hard about using it in a classroom. But alas, I don't know enough about Judaism to do it justice from the standpoint of "Mr. Teacher Guy." If you are Jewish, and you teach in China, go find this. Heck, even if you're a Gentile in the USA who will never teach, go find this. This is why we watch movies, folks. We want to see films like this.
Movie Review: Great movie, but the DVD cover is offensive
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great movie, but the photo on DVD cover is misleading. Yes, there's a baseball game in the beginning, but the movie is NOT about some Hasidic thug toughing it out with a baseball bat. Plus, the blurb on the back is wrong. It says that Reuven Malter is "the son of a secular father" who is "raised to question everything around him, including his own religion." Who wrote this? Some fundamentalist goy who doesn't know that questioning is A BASIC PART of Judaism? Didn't this idiot PR person know that ALL Jews, religious or not, are raised to question their religion? The Talmud itself is based on questioning and debate! Also, Reuven is not "secular," he's the son of a Modern Orthodox Jew (that's a denomination) who writes serious articles on textual criticism of the Talmud. In the book, the conflict is between two religious sects with different views on how literal to take the Bible, the politics of Zionism, etc. In the book this is clear -- and so, I recommend you read the book along with the movie to get the full story.Movie Review: Very moving
Summary: 5 Stars
I just saw The Chosen on TV. I had seen it once before but watched it again. It is a fascinating and well-acted story of the friendship between two teen-aged boys, a Chasidic Jew, and an observant, but secular Jew. One reviewer complained that Maximilian Schell was too German to play a Jew. I found him very believable as the Zionist father of one of the boys. Rod Steiger as the Orthodox Rabbi was amazing. I didn't see the opening credits and couldn't guess that he was playing the part. Steiger usually chews the scenery, but here he is very restrained and moving as the father who sacrifices closeness with his son for the boy's own good.
This is a film with many levels that bears watching over again. I have not read the book, and others here have said it is better. Movies are a different experience, and this one is very good.
Movie Review: The Chosen
Summary: 5 Stars
The Chosen is a pretty faithful adaption of Chiam Potek's novel of the same name. I follows the lfie and growth of two Jewish boys and their fathers, one reformed one Hasidic, growing up in Brooklyn during and after the Second World War. Apart from being a period piece, it is probably one of the best "middle brow" American films of my lifetime. Rod Stieger, and Maximillian Schell give outstanding perfomances as the fathers, but they do not outshine reedy acting of "their" two sons.
The Chosen is certainly not an action movie, but I show this film to high-school seniors every year, and it is always well receieved and profundly moving. Not bad for a movie that is essentially about faith, fatherhood, and filial piety!
Movie Review: Jewish culture clash in 1940s Brooklyn
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in Brooklyn from D-Day to the formation of the state of Israel shortly after the war, this movie is about the friendship between two Jewish boys - one modern, the other Hassidic. While much of the movie offers a look into the mysteries of the strict and somewhat isolated sect of Hassidism, there is enough character development with the two boys to keep the movie rightfully centered there and always entertaining. The conflicts between the two boys' cultures, and an even bigger one between the Hassidic boy and his Rabii father, are handled with intelligence and aplomb. There is also a great feel for 1940s Brooklyn. Very well done.