Film: My Father My Lord
Release date: 12th April 2010
Release date: 12th April 2010
Certificate: PG
Running time: 73 minsDirector: David Volach
Starring: Assi Dayan, Ilan Griff, Sharon Hacohen BarGenre: Drama
Studio: Artificial Eye
Format: DVDCountry: Israel
Director David Volach has approached this film with inside knowledge, having been raised within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community it centres on (he turned away from it in order to pursue a career in film), and set in a country (Israel) of great volatility one might expect a film with plenty of action and a fast paced story line. However, if that’s the kind of movie you are hoping for, look elsewhere.
This film’s gentle pace allows time for a highly authentic feel to shine through, from both characters and setting, and the attention to the detail of the orthodox lives of the three main characters – Rabbi Abraham Eidelmann, Esther, his wife, and their young son Menachem – is the backdrop and preparation for a storyline of great and tragic simplicity: a family visit to the seaside results in the death of the child who is lost in the sea, whilst his father is engrossed in his afternoon prayers.
It opens with a depiction of the small world of Menachem, and we see him spending time with his parents, at the Rabbi’s Yeshiva school with the students, and also at his own faith school. Sometimes we see the world through the child’s eyes, and at other times we observe as adults the world that Menachem has to live in. The greatest influence on him is his father, whom he clearly loves, but is also in awe of.
Menachem’s life is ruled by his father’s complete (some might say obsessive) devotion to his faith, and the living out of the Torah; every part of the boy’s life becomes a lesson in faith, and much of what the Rabbi says is in the form of a prayer. His long suffering wife Esther does her best to protect her boy from the excesses of this, trying in vain to intervene when Menachem is ordered to destroy his collector’s card because it might depict a scene of idolatry, and softening the effects of Menachem having to watch his father drive a dove from her young because the Torah told him it must be done…
There is strong irony in the story; Rabbi Abraham uses his son’s question about whether dogs have souls to explain to his Yeshiva students that only they, the Righteous, have the privilege of God’s guidance, and anyone outside that group, and that includes non observant Jews, and indeed the rest of the world’s population, is only there to be the servant of the Righteous. And yet we discover that God has chosen (as the Rabbi sees it) to take away a doted on only child from this Righteous couple whose lives are devoted to God. Seemingly, and most likely because of his fervent belief that God directs every moment of his life and control is therefore not his to wield, the Rabbi recovers from this tragedy faster than his wife, even chastising her for weeping on the Sabbath. This is a heartbreaking scene, in which one can feel the faith ebbing away from a distraught Esther, whilst her husband sings praise to God. Bemused, the Rabbi asks his wife what he was supposed to have done when the boy disappeared, because as he said, at that moment, “I was wrapped in the hands of the Almighty.”
This is a movie which raises many issues, and it really needs a second viewing to get the best out of it, because one can get so engrossed in the minutiae of Hasidic life the first time around that the issues only become apparent later. Esther is a victim of the orthodox gender divide; she is not allowed on the all-male beach with her son, and stands apart from her husband as the emergency services search for Menachem, whilst Abraham sings to his God. She cannot share her grief with him in the Synagogue either; however, this provides her with one of the final moments of the film, in which she pushes prayer books over the balcony of the women’s gallery onto her husband below, a feeble “revenge” for her loss, but another indication that she blames her husband for her son’s death.
It must be said that whilst Volach is critical of the Orthodox community, he is not disrespectful, and maybe that is why the film works so well. There is no doubting the genuineness of the Rabbi’s love for his son, a truly passionate tenderness which, in fact, both parents depict beautifully. Similarly, one has to guard against the human being’s natural reserve when it comes to experiencing a different way of life to one’s own, and look beyond that to the faith-based devotion that is genuinely felt. What Volach wants us to see is what happens when that devotion to God blinds an individual to the dangers of the here-and-now.
David Volach has produced a brave and unflinching critique of religious exclusivity so be prepared for the sting - you may come away from this story feeling strangely uncomfortable, saddened, and disheartened to discover that yet another faith has an inflexible and extreme element to it.
Beautiful to look at, with an abundance of softly lit scenes and warm colours, complemented by wonderful performances from the three leading actors. Watch it, and learn. GR
This film’s gentle pace allows time for a highly authentic feel to shine through, from both characters and setting, and the attention to the detail of the orthodox lives of the three main characters – Rabbi Abraham Eidelmann, Esther, his wife, and their young son Menachem – is the backdrop and preparation for a storyline of great and tragic simplicity: a family visit to the seaside results in the death of the child who is lost in the sea, whilst his father is engrossed in his afternoon prayers.
It opens with a depiction of the small world of Menachem, and we see him spending time with his parents, at the Rabbi’s Yeshiva school with the students, and also at his own faith school. Sometimes we see the world through the child’s eyes, and at other times we observe as adults the world that Menachem has to live in. The greatest influence on him is his father, whom he clearly loves, but is also in awe of.
Menachem’s life is ruled by his father’s complete (some might say obsessive) devotion to his faith, and the living out of the Torah; every part of the boy’s life becomes a lesson in faith, and much of what the Rabbi says is in the form of a prayer. His long suffering wife Esther does her best to protect her boy from the excesses of this, trying in vain to intervene when Menachem is ordered to destroy his collector’s card because it might depict a scene of idolatry, and softening the effects of Menachem having to watch his father drive a dove from her young because the Torah told him it must be done…
There is strong irony in the story; Rabbi Abraham uses his son’s question about whether dogs have souls to explain to his Yeshiva students that only they, the Righteous, have the privilege of God’s guidance, and anyone outside that group, and that includes non observant Jews, and indeed the rest of the world’s population, is only there to be the servant of the Righteous. And yet we discover that God has chosen (as the Rabbi sees it) to take away a doted on only child from this Righteous couple whose lives are devoted to God. Seemingly, and most likely because of his fervent belief that God directs every moment of his life and control is therefore not his to wield, the Rabbi recovers from this tragedy faster than his wife, even chastising her for weeping on the Sabbath. This is a heartbreaking scene, in which one can feel the faith ebbing away from a distraught Esther, whilst her husband sings praise to God. Bemused, the Rabbi asks his wife what he was supposed to have done when the boy disappeared, because as he said, at that moment, “I was wrapped in the hands of the Almighty.”
This is a movie which raises many issues, and it really needs a second viewing to get the best out of it, because one can get so engrossed in the minutiae of Hasidic life the first time around that the issues only become apparent later. Esther is a victim of the orthodox gender divide; she is not allowed on the all-male beach with her son, and stands apart from her husband as the emergency services search for Menachem, whilst Abraham sings to his God. She cannot share her grief with him in the Synagogue either; however, this provides her with one of the final moments of the film, in which she pushes prayer books over the balcony of the women’s gallery onto her husband below, a feeble “revenge” for her loss, but another indication that she blames her husband for her son’s death.
It must be said that whilst Volach is critical of the Orthodox community, he is not disrespectful, and maybe that is why the film works so well. There is no doubting the genuineness of the Rabbi’s love for his son, a truly passionate tenderness which, in fact, both parents depict beautifully. Similarly, one has to guard against the human being’s natural reserve when it comes to experiencing a different way of life to one’s own, and look beyond that to the faith-based devotion that is genuinely felt. What Volach wants us to see is what happens when that devotion to God blinds an individual to the dangers of the here-and-now.
David Volach has produced a brave and unflinching critique of religious exclusivity so be prepared for the sting - you may come away from this story feeling strangely uncomfortable, saddened, and disheartened to discover that yet another faith has an inflexible and extreme element to it.
Beautiful to look at, with an abundance of softly lit scenes and warm colours, complemented by wonderful performances from the three leading actors. Watch it, and learn. GR
