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Movies / On DVD / Trembling Before G-d
Trembling Before G-d

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Trembling Before G-d (2001)

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Reviews Counted:61

Fresh:54

Rotten:7

Average Rating:7.1/10

Consensus: Trembling Before G-d looks at the effects of religious morality on believers whose sexuality falls outside the accepted norm with intelligence and compassion.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 84 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

Theatrical Release:Oct 24, 2001 Limited

Synopsis: Trembling Before G-d is an unprecedented feature documentary that shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality, and religious fundamentalism. Built around intimately-told personal stories of Hasidic... Trembling Before G-d is an unprecedented feature documentary that shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality, and religious fundamentalism. Built around intimately-told personal stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are gay or lesbian, the film portrays a group of people who face a profound dilemma - how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism and the Divine with the drastic Biblical prohibitions that forbid homosexuality. As the film unfolds, we meet a range of complex individuals - some hidden, some out - from the world's first openly gay Orthodox rabbi to closeted, married Hasidic gays and lesbians to those abandoned by religious families to Orthodox lesbian high-school sweethearts.

Many have been tragically rejected and their pain is raw, yet with irony, humor, and resilience, they love, care, struggle, and debate with a thousands-year old tradition. Ultimately, they are forced to question how they can pursue truth and faith in their lives. Vividly shot with a courageous few over five years in Brooklyn, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, London, Miami, and San Francisco, Trembling Before G-d is an international project with global implications that strikes at the meaning of religious identity and tradition in a modern world. For the first time, this issue has become a live, public debate in Orthodox circles, and the film is both witness and catalyst to this historic moment. What emerges is a loving and fearless testament to faith and survival and the universal struggle to belong. -- © 2001 Simcha Leib Productions [More]

Starring: Steve Greenberg, Shlomo Ashkinazy

Starring: Steve Greenberg, Shlomo Ashkinazy

Director: Sandi Simcha DuBowski

Director: Sandi Simcha DuBowski
Producer: Marc Smolowitz, Sandi Simcha DuBowski
Composer: John Zorn
Studio: New Yorker Films

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Oct 21, 2003

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Reviews for Trembling Before G-d

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
08/25/07
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Powerful documentary about the struggle of gay and lesbian orthodox Jews to reconcile their beliefs and their desires

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
05/04/07
Louis Proyect
Louis Proyect
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
06/19/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Trembling Before G-d, by no stretch a well constructed documentary film, is an important breakthrough for Jewish orthodoxy because ignoring a consistent problem helps no one.

Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment Comment
11/30/04
Jordan Hiller
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Movie Gazette | comment Comment
03/27/04
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette

The film helpfully translates onscreen some of the Hebrew words of the interviewees for the benefit of goyim whose only exposure to the Hasidim has been Yentl.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
11/02/03
Matt Bailey
Matt Bailey
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
07/08/03
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This insightful documentary simmers with a fury that's passionate enough not to need spelling out.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
05/20/03
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC

the human face it puts on the objects of intolerance speaks to discrimination at large in all its ugly forms. Its a moving and important piece of filmmaking

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/05/03
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

It offers several interesting insights into the seemingly incongruous matters of homosexuality and orthodox religion.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
02/15/03
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

A heavy subject for any filmmaker to broach, and it definitely exceeds the skills of first-time director Sandi Simcha Dubowski.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
02/14/03
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

A sensitive and eye-opening documentary.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
02/14/03
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

Moving and, ultimately, hopeful -- a hope that extends further than most documentaries allow.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
12/12/02
Paul Malcolm
Paul Malcolm
L.A. Weekly

A unique documentary about the crisis confronting gay and lesbian Jews who wish to remain part of the Orthodox and Hasidic branches of Judaism.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
12/12/02
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This portrayal never becomes anything more than a typical 'talking heads' doc.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Anthony Miele
Anthony Miele
Film Threat

Everyone, including adherents of other faiths which treat gays much the same, should find food for thought in this fine film.

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
10/21/02
Jean Lowerison
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan

the Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish version of Arthur Dong's superior Family Fundamentals.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
10/03/02
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
09/23/02
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Scores points courtesy of its deeply interesting subject matter... [but director] DuBowski doesn’t ask the truly tough psychoanalytical questions of her subjects.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
09/12/02
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today
 
 
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