A Price Above Rubies [HD]

Thought Provoking . . .
I enjoyed this film very much, although I can see from the reviews that because it portrays negative aspects of a particular religious culture, it is receiving the usual reflexive denials from other members, as if one is obligated only to make movies that show all cultures as wonderful all the time! For the man who asked what would happen if they made movies like this about blacks and Indians - well, first of all, they did, for decades, and this movie is not remotely on a par with those as reductions of an entire people or culture. Someone who criticized the film didn't even watch it attentively enough to figure out that the ghostly child was Sonia's brother, not her "childhood friend", and then there's the illiterate review by someone who claims to be Jewish but complains about the movie being too Jewish . . . where do these people come from?!

Unhappy marriages occur in cultures the world over, and while the story does expose some of the hypocrisies of Orthodox culture,...

An excellent movie
If you like the book, The Catcher in the Rye, you'll like this film. The heroine is a young wife, new mother and Hasidic Jew living in present-day New York. While many reviewers felt that this film took a huge swipe at Judaism, the woman's religion is merely a very rich, complex context in which to explore one woman's sense of isolation and oppression. The movie also alludes to the inescapable nature of cultural rules for other groups through her friendship with a black/hispanic, Catholic man. As a young, female Christian from the Midwest, I did not see this woman's plight as that of a Jewish woman, but as that of any woman who must accept a life that ignores her need for sexual fullfillment, meaningful work and the ability to express herself openly and without male censure. This movie did nothing to undermine my respect for Judaism. The movie's main theme is about one woman's feelings of oppression. Oppression she likely never would have experienced had she the same...

Uneven but interesting
Renee Zellweger plays against type as Sonia, a traditional Hasidic wife, who yearns for different experiences sexual and otherwise. On her journey, Sonia deals with extended family including a predatory brother-in-law and befriends a Puerto Rican artist (nicely portrayed by Allen Payne.)Along the way, the movie also deals with mysticism in the form of Sonia's dead brother and a homeless woman. Zellweger gives a good but subtle performance in her role.

Apparently this movie was a huge subject of controversy when it was released. The Hasidic community reportedly took offense at their portrayal and the casting of the decidedly Waspish Zellweger in the lead role. Perhaps that's why it slipped under most people's radar.

Their concern is understandable. When a group is rarely portrayed in the movies, any negative generalizations are a sensitive issue. But I think the controversy obscures what is in fact the movie's universal message. Individuals who feel that they don't belong in the...

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