Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fill the Void (2012)

Fill the Void
Directed by Rama Burshtein
Starring: Hadas Yaron, Yiftach Klein, Irit Sheleg
Grade: B [71]

Despite its deployment of age-old commentary Rama Burshtein’s drama about arranged marriages in orthodox Jewish religion integrates its Austen-derived brand of feminity with a remarkably non-judgemental insight into faith and custom. As a participant of the Jewish faith Burshtein fails to shy away from the difficult pressures of marriage as a confluence of morality, duty, necessity -- and, yes, love -- but does so by revealing how these elements can be shaped into making a decision wise for one’s own future both logically and emotionally. I’m a long way from believing that commitment should stem from anything more than it should stem from love, but this film offers an uncommon, ingrained viewpoint by which to consider the issue more closely. Dramatically repetitive but thematically rich, it’s a film which compels discussion more than most I’ve seen this year.

No comments: