I appreciated and enjoyed film much more than Bronwen, although I have to admit and caution that it very much alien territory to me as well. Even though shot in color, the film feels like the clothing worn by most Chassids, black and white. I can’t really evaluate what’s ‘right’ and what’s ‘wrong’ about the technical portrayal of life inside Brooklyn’s Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Chassidic community. It’s a tough go. Cell phones and superstition (no contradiction there) Arranged marriages, endless ritual, and power vested in both rabbis and successful community members. It is a male community and it’s one where any deviance is viewed as betrayal. The individual self is a danger to the communal identity and gender roles and rigidities are high on the list of danger zones. Menashe (Menashe Lustig) is a single-dad following the death of his wife. He is also something of a sad-sack or schlemiel. Life is tough and he clerks in a grocery store for a wretched, exploitative and even dishonest boss. His son Ruven (Ruben Naborski) is his reason for living and the two have a loving but not easy relationship. All this is complicated by outside pressures for Menashe to remarry, not a happy thought given his prior experiences and his lack of success as a provider. It is also complicated by a nasty, almost Shylock-like brother-in-law (Yoel Falkowitz). Rabbis both dictate but also negotiate. They bargain for and with their congregants. Their rulings must fit their congregants’ beliefs and deviation there can lead to desertion, as when a woman denounces one rabbi who allows that women should be able to drive. Women’s lives in this community are, to say the least difficult and proscribed. Menashe must make profound choices as to how he can and will live, the meaning of this community, strictures and all, in his life. I found this a very interesting and sometimes painful film. Bronwen disliked seeing it for, I suspect, the gender aspects it detailed. Still, I’m glad I saw this one