| KADOSH Director: Amos Gitai "The most basic contradiction is all monotheistic religions is their attitude toward women, whom they simultaneously worship and opress, and that's why I chose to make a film dealing with several women characters who find themselves trapped in this contradiction." Amos Gitai How do you make a critical film about the negative aspects of a religion and not offend people? Israel’s preeminent director Amos Gitai seems to tell us that you don’t. Instead you just charge ahead, make your claims and hope that the people who can rectify or resolve the situation see the film. Set in a religious quarter of Mea Sheamin in Jerusalem, Kadosh ("Sacred") delves deep into the hermetic world of a male dominated sect of Judaism. The daily rituals of the scholars involve praying, chanting and studying the Talmud all day, every day with little respite for what we call a regular life. Their wives take a subservient role doing the financing, the housework and the cooking, all the while serving the men and hoping to bear them male heirs who will be the next generation of scholars. The film revolves around two sisters Rivka and Malka. Director Gitai uses the two women’s personalities as a contrast to show us the two sides of most women’s situation under this particular Orthodox religion. Rivka – played by Yael Abecassis an actress with an amazingly stoic presence – is the older one who represents those women in their 30’s who have become passive and accept their fate within the religious tradition. The younger one Malka (Meital Barba) represents the women in their 20's who refuse to be tied down by arranged marriages and fight tradition until they realize their only option is to run away or succumb to it. Rivka’s husband, Meir (Yoram Hattab who is a Palestinian actor) cannot impregnate her because of his sterility. The film brings an ordinary problem that could easily be remedied to the level of an almost farcical Greek tragedy. Rivka gets the double whammy; not only is she condemned for her husband’s inadequacies but she becomes an outcast for not fulfilling God’s commandment to procreate. To top it off Meir’s rabbi condemns Rivka and insists that he drop her and marry another woman who can fulfill his needs. It’s difficult to separate the film’s formalistic aspects from its subject. Gitai gets right into the mindset and rigors of the Orthodox religious world by slowing time down to a crawl with the use of many long still shots - some of which last up to five minutes. The first shot in the movie -- as the credits fade in and out -- is an eight-minute take of Meir dressing and doing an incantation for every single piece of clothing he puts on. One of his prayers -- just to let us know the movie’s subject -- is "Thank you, Oh Lord, for not having made me a woman." From a purely cinematic point of view the film is impressive but from a social, political or religious view it doesn’t tell us more than we already know or fear about ultra conservative religions. And this will be the reason that few people go to see it. The film should be a call to arms especially for religiously repressed women. But to others it will be considered a heavy-handed polemic. Chances are though it won’t find the right audience because the only people with the privilege to see the film will be Western audiences who are sympathetic to the cause but unable or unwilling to do much. Kadosh ups the ante by showing us that the cruelty and nonsense of repressive traditions still exist today. Kadosh won’t make us rethink these atavistic traditions but it is very well directed and it definitely has the ability to anger a lot of people on both sides of the issue. - Matt Langdon |