Friday, March 11
Kadosh
dir. Amos Gitai, Israel 1998

You can forgive Amos Gitai the initial slowness of his film. So keen is he to mount a critical attack on one particular corner of Orthodox Judaism that he wants his ideas to breathe, to emerge fully developed, just so we miss nothing. He does indeed have the eye and ear for detail of a good documentary film maker as he brings to the screen a story set in Mea Shearim, an extremely orthodox area of Jerusalem, where two sisters live, both severely unhappy due to the restrictiveness and oppression of their religion.

One sister, Rivka (Yaël Abecassis), has borne no children and so the unfeeling, judgmental, by-the-book rabbi suggests to her husband Meir (Yoram Hattab) that he scout around for another, younger woman who might have better luck at producing babies. Meanwhile Rivka's sister Malka (Meital Barda) is relishing an affair with Yaakov (Sami Hori), an individualist who has walked away from orthodox Judaism and taken to playing music in bars, but again the rabbi weighs in, insisting she marry his assistant. The marriage turns out to be ice-cold and violent, but at least religious law is being obeyed.

As Rivka hides, and Malka rebels, drama begins to course through this meaningful film which is alive with both ideas (about the denial of women's rights, for example) and full, rounded performances, especially from Yaël Abecassis and Meital Barda. It's also terrific to see a film inspired by passion. - Michael Thomson, BBCi Films