BEST FILMS OF 1999 - List in Progress
by Mike Lorefice

Humanite
Bruno Dumont

****

Full Movie Review

Kadosh
Amos Gitai

The crushing pressure of living under the restrictive laws of haredim (ultra-orthodox Judiasm) and the collision between love and faith are patiently explored through the lives of two sisters. Women exist in this ritualistic society to bear and raise new Jewish followers, and while they are at it to earn money, cook, and clean so their husbands can devote themselves to studying the Torah and Talmud. The older sister Rivka (Yael Abecassis) is considered a major failure. She's constantly looked down upon because her marriage of 10 years is judged solely on production, and she's failed to yield a single Jew. The fact that her and her husband Meir (Yoram Hattab) are very much in love is meaningless, especially to Meir's father who considers Rivka to be less than a woman and rides his son to dump her for someone he can impregnate. In many ways Meir is more similar to the two sisters than to the other men, and thus he's an equally sympathetic character who is controlled by religious superiors to the point of impotence. The younger sister Malka (Meital Barda) isn't particularly interested in marriage, but would marry Yakov if she could make her own pick. Unfortunately, he was banished from the hardcore community, so the rabbi forces her to marry his assistant, a detestable zealot. Gitai depicts mood rather than action by employing lengthy static takes of everyday rituals that show religion as life. Due in part to the elongated silences of these fetishistically detailed scenes, the dialogue comes off more naturalistic because it's never rushed, forced, or crammed. A scene is allowed to go on for a few minutes without even beginning its script point; the purpose is revealed over time rather than through cute snippets. Kadosh is very obviously a secular take on the orthodox lifestyle, protesting the horrendous suffocating treatment of the rightless sex. The women struggle to summon the courage to be individualistic, but the oppressiveness of the empty interiors sets the tone of the austere piece. I might be pissed off enough to put forth this take if I was close to the subject, but I'm so far removed from this world I must criticize the fact the film is too slanted to allow an outsider to judge for themselves. I'm sure there are examples of Rivka & Meir's story, but it's hard enough to find a couple married that long who are still that much in love, much less one who is also forced to end it. [11/2/06] ***

Spring Forward
Tom Gilroy

***