asimow Review of The Women's Balcony

The Women's Balcony (2016)

This film about the conflicts in an Orthodox Jewish community is funny and touching.

[9/10 · 16 July 2017]

This film is outstanding in all respects. It travels inside the world of the Orthodox in Jerusalem and treats Orthodox Jews with respect and affection but it laughs at them too. The film is funny and very touching. The members of the synagogue look like regular hard-working poor people, with ordinary problems, not movie stars. The central conflict in the plot concerns the construction of the women's balcony--the space set aside for women in the synagogue. The question is whether to build a new women's balcony (the old one collapsed) or to purchase a new Torah scroll (the old one was destroyed). There's money enough for one but not both. You'd imagine the women would be trying to abolish gender segregation in the synagogue as outdated and demeaning. Quite the contrary--they take to the streets in a demonstration calling on the men to build the balcony against the commands of a power-tripping rabbi who despises them. You don't have to be Jewish to love this movie, but it doesn't hurt either.