Kadosh (1999)

Saddest movie, tear jerker

The ending was the saddest ending I ever saw.

This movie made two fatal errors in reaching the level of horror that it achieved.

First, no man, no rabbi, no rabbinic court is allowed to tell a man to leave his wife for not having childing. It says clearly in Jewish law that it is forbidden to ask a man to leave his wife.

Second, no man, no rabbi, no rabbinic court is allowed to force a woman to marry a man. A woman can only get marry by free consent. Without that clear, freely accepted act of accepting the ring, the marriage is illegal. THese matters are simple and clear.

The rabbi in this movie ended Meir's marriage by revoking his marriage contract. There is no such thing as a marriage contract. A woman and man are bonded as if they acquire one another, not contractual promise, as in the common law. A man cannot divorce his wife without her freely accepting the legal and complication process to undo that bond.

Just as incorrect, the wedding ceremenoy in this movie did not show the act of giving the ring. I was hoping that she would not accept it. That is when and how a marriage begins, everything else is irrelevant.

By leaving out the two things that begin a Jewish marriage and end a Jewish marriage, the director turned perhaps the strongest Western institution, the biblical marriage, into one of repression. December 25, 2008

Kadosh

A beautifully realized and sensitive drama, Amos Gitai's controversial "Kadosh" observes a little-seen religious community where women's roles are severely restricted to child-bearing and strict obedience to their husbands. Love is both triumphant and tragic in Gitai's story, the ultimate cause of dark disruptions. Abecassis and Hattab inhabit their roles with deep feeling, making us believe in their mutual respect and reverence for tradition. Barda is also wonderful as the younger woman whose need for escape materializes when her new husband proves incapable of warmth or tenderness. Somber yet hopeful, "Kadosh" is a marvelous Israeli gem. July 13, 2007

Ghosts

Rivka (Yaël Abecassis), Meir (Yoram Hattab) and Malka (Meital Barda) walk through the frames of Amos Gitai's "Kadosh" as if they were ghosts: human beings without a physical presence, without a solid place on which to land their phosphorescent bodies, souls and hearts. Their haunting unhappiness with their lot in life makes them transparent. You can see their hearts slowly break as they go about the business of life.
Set in the ultra-Orthodox quarter of Jerusalem called Mea Shearim, "Kadosh" (meaning "sacred") studies two sisters, Rivka and Malka, enduring the ironhanded restrictions of their tiny, airtight society. Director Gitai fastidiously features the endless rituals of the sisters lives: everything from how tea is taken to how love is made. Then one day someone sends a note to Rivka, happily and lovingly married to Meir for ten years...but childless, stating "A woman without a child is no better than dead." And thus begins the forced and tragic separation of Rivka and Meir.
Malka is younger than Rivka and questions everything about the Orthodox way. She is also in love with a Mea Shearim deserter, Yaakov (Sami Hori) but is forced into a loveless, arranged marriage with a blustering bully: the scene of their first night of marriage is brutal and frankly disgusting with Malka's beautiful spirit and life force seemingly extinguished in the process.
"Kadosh" is very still, very quiet, claustrophobic. The only sounds evident are the sounds of hearts and souls in anguish as they are being crushed and strangled from the inside.
April 20, 2007

Disgusted

First off, it was a bad movie-- scenes were too long, little character introduction, development, etc.

However, I am writing to express my disgust and devastation at a very different issue: Jewish Orthodoxy. Let's just start by saying that there were many, many unimportant details of Jewish Law that the Producer/Director royally messed up. If they weren't even familiar with laws such as the opening scene of waking-up rituals, then how much more so would they be prone to fallacy in their depiction of the real underlying issues that they were trying to explore?!

All I can say is that there were way too many mistakes-- small and large-- to make any point whatsoever. If you want to see a good film about Orthodoxy-- and issues of childlessness, see Ushpizin. January 23, 2007

heart breaker

I just saw this movie tonight. All I can tell you is it was a heart breaker. Rivka and Meir had a loving marriage until the Rabbi ruined it. Malka was doomed from the start. Her husband was a disgusting, frightening, sick man. The wedding night scene was a nightmare for Malka. This man was an animal. Absolutely an uncaring lover. He never heard of the word foreplay? Guess not. He was extremely rough on their first time lovemaking. (she was a virgin) It turned my stomach. The ending will definitely call for tissues. This movie was not rated... but deserves an R. Not for teens, or children. September 7, 2006

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