Plot
A devout 18-year-old Israeli is pressured to marry the husband of her late sister. Declaring her independence is not an option in Tel Aviv's ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community, where ... See full summary »
Release Year: 2012
Rating: 6.6/10 (468 voted)
Director:Rama Burshtein
Storyline
A devout 18-year-old Israeli is pressured to marry the husband of her late sister. Declaring her independence is not an option in Tel Aviv's ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community, where religious law, tradition and the rabbi's word are absolute.
Release Date:
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The official submission of Israel to the Best Foreign Language Film for the 85th Academy Awards 2013. See more »
User Review
Black and White
Rating: 8/10
Israel's official entry to the Oscars this year is probably too
minimalistic and low-key to make it to the final five, but it's a film
well worth watching and is in fact one of the best films I've seen so
far emerge from the growing Israeli cinema. Fill the Void is of
particular interest to Israeli viewers because it's a rare window into
the very closed-community lifestyle of the Orthodox Jews, giving very
rare insight as the film was made by an Orthodox director but with a
secular audience in mind, which is something never seen before. For
foreign viewers too, it may be a fascinating glimpse into an
anachronistic, static religious community that hardly ever opens itself
up like this to the general public.
Cinematically, Fill the Void is startlingly minimalistic; the story is
a very brief glimpse into a very simple lifestyle. The gorgeous
cinematography compliments that, constantly focusing on the contrast
between Hadas Yaron's white face, the black clothing and the gray-brown
backgrounds, but with a soft focus that makes it very easy to get lost
inside. The cinematography itself is so aesthetic that it often
conceals just how simple the story and the characters are - the film
revolves around one moral question without giving too much insight into
the thought processes of any of the characters. Its real achievement
however is in enabling the viewer to be immersed in the environment and
the lifestyle of a culture so different from what we're used to, and in
that sense it's a triumph.
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