Kadosh

An alternately angry and sad portrait, passionate in its presentation and moving in its portrayal of individuals who sacrifice their love for the tenets of their religion.

A powerful indictment of a religious mind set and is sure to spark plenty of post-screening discussion.

A poetic and somber film that underscores the bum deal women usually get in any restrictive society.

One of Gitaï's greatest assets in Kadosh is such stillness, which leaves facile outsiders' judgment out of the frame and thereby deepens our immersion in the narrative.

It is unusually but effectively organized as an almost unbroken chain of intimacies between the small and large players in this story.

It moves slowly, but you suspect that is the way of life in Mea Shearim, the closed quarters of a group that triggered Gitai's respect and our curiosity.

It's hard to tell whether these characters are meant to seem as staunchly symbolic as they do when they deliver some of the back-story-heavy dialogue.