Kadosh (No Rating)
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Set in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim quarter, this powerful film by Israeli director Amos Gitai is an aptly depressing and very well-made indictment of the horrific sex roles often enforced in the name of religion. The main characters are Meir and Rivka (Yoram Hattab and Yael Abecassis), an Orthodox couple who, after ten years of marriage, have not been able to conceive a child. Per tradition, the man's rabbi instructs him that he must remarry, since "a man who dies without progeny rips a page from the Torah"--a declaration that is tantamount to casting Rivka out into the street. More Old Testament than old-style foreign classic, Kadosh is just about the least sexy film on the subject of male-female relationships that one could possibly imagine, and Gitai's austere, near-documentary approach contributes even further to the fearlessness of his critique. (Rob Nelson)
Review by Rob Nelson
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