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.

Put aside what you think you know or don't know about the inner world of an orthodox Chassidic community in Tel Aviv, and let Rama Burshtein weave a story that is believable, engrossing, and rich with nuance and subtlety... the timeless themes found in a community which lives in the past, the excellent acting, direction and casting, will have you quickly absorbed in this terrific film.

If you are looking to vent your critique or holier than thou judgments of Jewish Orthodoxy, you may feel a bit humbled by the humanity found behind the long dresses, black robes and covered heads. The portrayal of the rabbi is an especially tender reflection of some one who is indeed spiritual, in the most human sense.

Israeli director Rama Burshtein's powerfully moving Fill the Void, Israel's submission to the 2012 Oscars, is about love and marriage but, in the Orthodox Hasidic community in Tel Aviv, they do not necessarily go together like a horse and carriage. Hadas Yaron, winner of the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival in her first film role, is eighteen year-old Shira who is very close to being matched and promised to a local young man. When her older sister Esther (Renana Raz) dies in childbirth, however, her husband, the striking-looking Yochay (Yiftak Klein), is left to raise his young son Mordecai by himself and, according to tradition, has a duty to remarry once the formal mourning period is over.

This is where the film's central dilemma comes in and Shira's choice to "do the right thing" is severely tested by conflicting loyalties. After her family celebrates the Jewish holiday Purim, Shira and her mother, Rivka (Irit Sheleg) in a scene with Woody Allen overtones, are sent by the matchmaker to "shop" in the supermarket to find a suitable husband. When the right man is found, arrangements are made, even though Shira does not actually meet the young man until later in the film. When her mother learns that Yochay has a marriage offer from a widow living in Belgium, however, and cannot face the idea of the baby being taken away, she asks the matchmaker Mr. Shtreicher (Michael David Weigl) to arrange for Shira to marry Yochai, who is ten years older.

Fill the Void is a heartfelt and intimate look inside a world few of us ever have contact with. Sensitive to the orthodox community's rituals and traditions, however anachronistic they may seem to us, there is a feeling behind the rituals that binds people together and produces a feeling of closeness in the community, underscored by the rhythmic chants and joyous celebrations of special occasions. Though the purpose of every girl is to be married may seem offensive, in the culture in which it takes place, it is not demeaning, and the film does not stand in judgment of its characters or of the community.

As director Rama Buhrstein, a member of the Orthodox community herself, describes the film, "It's not about being an anthropologist or about religion or secularism. Rather, it's about the heart." Shira is asked to choose between her sense of duty to her family and community and her desire to fulfill her own dreams. Throughout the process, however, she is not alone and is always surrounded by love and support from mothers, fathers, aunts, rabbis, even though their advice may be conflicting. Her affectionate Aunt Hanna (Razia Israeli), who never married because of a disability, encourages Shira to do what is right for herself, putting her at odds with her mother.

Shira's older unwed cousin Frieda (Hila Feldman) tells her that it was Esther's wish that she marry Yochay if anything should happen to her, a proposition Yochay rebels at. Sensing Shira's confusion and uncertainty about marrying Yochay, however, the chief Rabbi (Melech Thal) refuses to bless the marriage. Even as many emotions seem to be happening all at the same time, the resolution of the conflict is poignant and even beautiful and it all comes together in a memorable final shot.

As a watcher of many movies I often find myself bored at watching the same tired clichés recycled over and over and packaged as original movies.

Thats why i was refreshed to watch this movie- a film that has an original story and gives us a look at a different world.

I found the casting to be excellent. The male lead was strong & handsome and inhabited his role with controlled emotion and dignity. The female lead was beautiful in an innocent way and her demure manner and emotional expressions were well suited for her role.

Well done & thanks for a good film experience!

For those who are inclined to seek their pound of flesh from the extremely pious devotees of religion, director Rama Burshtein's intense dissection of how an Israeli Hasidic family copes with a domestic tragedy, may seem to be a just critique of religious extremism in general. But as a member of such a community, Ms. Burshtein's intent is not to criticize such a community but to show its humanity, warts and all.

'Fill the Void' begins as we're introduced to the larger Hasidic Jewish community during the Festival of Purim. As the Bible says, 'Be fruitful and multiply'; as a result, Hasidic families usually end up having large families. It's a 'Mitzvah' for the head Rabbi to dole out wads of cash to the fathers who are having a hard time trying to pay the bills, given the numbers of children involved. But not all the issues involve economic need; one man complains about his 'mentally ill' wife. The Rabbi's solution: more cash. The man shoves the money back in protest and it's obvious that the head Rabbi's solutions can't always revolve around financial remuneration.

The focus of 'Fill the Void', is the upper middle class Hasidic Mendelman family from Tel Aviv. The father is a kindly man, Rabbi Aharon, who's married to Rifka. The break into the second Act occurs when their 28 year old daughter, Esther, dies in childbirth, after giving birth to a son, Mordechay.

After the funeral, the son-in-law, Yochay, is hesitant to accept an offer to marry a widow in Belgium, and bring the newborn with him to a foreign country. Rifka's solution is to try and convince her surviving 18 year old daughter, Shira, to marry Yochay, and become a good mother to Mordechay.

Shira, a sensitive but tough soul, was expecting to be matched up with a young man her age. The idea that she should shack up with her brother- in-law, is repugnant to her, not only because of the subtle feeling that such an act is incestuous but because she's being robbed of the opportunity of experiencing being a newlywed with a partner who's also going in completely fresh.

While Yochay has his doubts, things become more complicated when Shira insists that an older family friend, Frieda, would be a better match for her brother-in-law. Yochay is insulted but soon comes around to the idea of marrying the much younger Shira, at the strong urging of Shira's mother, Rifka.

The pressure on Shira is subtle but Ms. Burshstein makes it clear that Shira is never forced into anything. When they go before the head Rabbi who asks Shira what are her "feelings" about her pending decision, Shira claims that it's not a "matter" of feelings but rather, a matter of expediency. Quoting the famed Rabbi Nachman, the head Rabbi, calls the wedding off as he realizes Shira's motivations for this marriage are negative. This decision plunges Shira's mother into despair.

Shira eventually changes her tune. One factor is that she finally gets to meet the young man she originally was betrothed to. He turns out to be a complete dud. And then after she meets with Yochay again, he shows her his sensitive side, breaking down over his wife's recent death and trying to cope with all the pressure. Shira eventually changes her mind, recognizing that Yochay is worth shacking up with. Not only is it now for the good of the child but, she will go into this union with genuine affection for her brother-in-law.

Ms. Burshstein paints a portrait of a community that also has its share of outsiders, peripheral characters who must find a way to fit into the insular community, despite having handicaps or flaws. One such character is Rifka's sister, Shira's aunt, who has no arms and never married. We're also introduced to a lonely widow, who interrupts the head rabbi by lamenting that she doesn't know how to choose a suitable oven for her kitchen.

All the performances in 'Fill the Void' are spot on, particularly Hadras Yaron, as the tough as nails teenager, Shira and Yiftach Klein, as the sensitive and thoughtful brother-in-law, Yochay.

Critics of religious fundamentalism may still interpret 'Fill the Void' in their own way. At first glance, the rules by which this community live by, seem awfully restrictive, particularly the way in which children are married off and women can't participate in the rituals, in the same joyous way, the men do. Nonetheless, Ms. Burshtein, through her sensitive story, proves that this community is a lot more open, than the average person gives them credit for.

This is a gorgeous film. The cinematography, largely revealing closeups of the characters, is stunning, bringing us close in to an unfamiliar world, an insular, deeply religious culture. The acting is flawless. But what brings me to give this film a top rating is the story, one of moral complexity--life, after all, is complicated, a truism that Hollywood films fail miserably in addressing, the rare times they attempt to do so (perhaps "The Master" and "Doubt" are exceptions). A young, innocent woman desires to make a marriage match that is in accordance with her Jewish Orthodox tradition and yet in some ineffable way is personally to her taste. At first this seems possible, but unforeseen circumstances make her choice of marriage partner difficult. She is not just choosing for herself and potential partner but her choice is central to the happiness or unhappiness of relatives and friends—a situation of which she is acutely aware. How can she make the right choice for everyone, herself included? In a culture seeped in moral values, the moral answer to her dilemma is not an easy one. It has been a long time since I've been so deeply moved by a film.

Gets _way_ further inside the world of the "Orthodox Jew" than anything I've ever even heard about before. The director and some of the actors really are Orthodox, so the portrayals of both home life and ceremonies that are seldom photographed are truly accurate, not just informed guesses. Yet this is not an "ethnographic record", it's a feature film. And the cinematography is excellent, about as far from an "amateur home movie" as you could possibly get.

The glass-half-full description is "a character study" - the glass-half-empty description is "slow boiler". Those prone to getting fidgety will probably be tested beyond their endurance. The psychological nuances aren't trivial - this film is the official submission of Israel to the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards.

The treatment of women looks "old-fashioned" to us: separate rooms, hair covering, emergency health care workers restricted if they might see something they normally wouldn't ...all the horror stories we've heard. This deeper look though shows us the considerable adaptation and flexibility around those rules-- architecture modified so those separate rooms aren't all that separate, a spinster covering her hair on the advice of her rebbe even though she'd never been married so people wouldn't ask so many awkward questions, the wife controlling the money in a rebbe's household, arranging clandestine peeks at potential mates via cellphone. The clumps of women standing in doorways reminded me powerfully of the clumps of servants in those Manor House period piece films like Gosford Park. The blocking of access to females in physical distress reminds me of stories out of Saudi Arabia. And the photo I saw later of a "fashion designer" Muslim hair covering looked so much like what these Orthodox women wear I did a double-take.

No easy answers, no "good guys" and "bad guys". There are both pros and cons. Downsides include difficulty finding a marriage partner, great difficulty keeping widows and widowers within the community, birth defects apparently from genetic inbreeding, and almost complete loss of input into the direction of the surrounding society/economy. Upsides include very strong support from both family and friends, and unparalleled community closeness. Where else do non-relatives easily call other adults by their pet names when the going gets rough? And how often do family friends feel free to proffer a word of contrary advice at any time? And although someone's decision to move away is often somewhat painful to others, where else would people literally rather die?

Beforehand I was ready to keep my distance and laugh at "those silly people". But watching it I realized the film applies equally well to _all_ communities that are "in the world but not of the world": fundamentalist Christians; even hippies who've resigned themselves to having zero political influence. There's a whole lot of space in the middle on the line with "modern society" on one end and "a cult" on the other end. Although on the surface this film is about a particular world that's about as familiar to me as living on Mars, the deeper story of gaining community but losing interaction with the surrounding society/economy still has me ruminating days later.

One reason to view FILL THE VOID, written and directed by Rama Burshtein, is the opportunity to view the clothing, the mannerisms, the singing (endless), and the other unique characteristics of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community. For those who have never witness this spectrum of Judaism it is an eye-opening experience: religious law, tradition and the rabbi's word are absolute. Marriages are arranged and a woman's outside options are limited, as marriage is a central and crucial moment in their lives. Matches are arranged, decisions about whom to marry are critically important, but apparently the woman always has the right to turn down a prospective suitor. Of importance to note, Rama Burshtein comes form this community and her understanding of all the permutations is obvious.

Shira (Hadas Yaron), a devout 18-year-old Israeli, has come of age and is considering marriage, having met her first serious suitor Yossi (Ido Samuel). Shira's eldest sister Esther (Renana Raz) suddenly dies in childbirth leaving her grieving husband Yochay (the very handsome and talented Yiftach Klein) with a son and no mother to care for the infant. Despite his grief (and the grief of Shira's parents - Irit Sheleg and Chayim Sharir) Yochay decides he must marry. Shira's other sister Frieda (Hila Feldman) declares that Esther had informed her that should anything happen to Esther, Frieda should marry Yochay. Shira's mother, afraid that Yochay will take the offer from a Belgium woman to marry and thus move away with her grandson from Tel Aviv, encourages Shira to marry Yochay. Shira is conflicted, gains support from her armless unmarried aunt Hanna (Razia Israeli) who knows that in this community a woman MUST be married, and after much discussion among the Rabbi (Melech Thal) and the family and Yochay and Shira, a conversation between the couple seals their fate.

The acting is excellent, the cinematography often times seems flooded with light and slightly out of focus as if taken through layers of wedding veils (!), the costumes are amazing even they are the usual dress mode of this Hassidic community, and the attention to detail of such moments as Purim and Shabbat are immaculate. The seemingly endless amount of singing by the men does grow a bit wearisome and covers dialogue at times, but this is a fresh and fascinating view of love, traditions, and laws and the still viable personal choices in this colorful community. In Hebrew with English subtitles.

Grady Harp

The Israeli film Lemale et ha'halal was shown in the United States with the title "Fill the Void" (2012). It was written and directed by Rama Burshtein. Other films exist about highly observant Jews, both in Israel and the U.S. However, this movie is unusual because the director herself if part of the orthodox community. She knows how people act, what they say, how they celebrate, and how they mourn.

As in many communities where a woman's outside options are limited, marriage is a central and crucial moment in their lives. Matches are arranged, but the woman always has the right to turn down a prospective suitor. Even so, the decision about whom to marry is critically important.

The wonderful young Israeli actor Hadas Yaron plays Shira, whose time for marriage has come. A match has been made, and Shira is excited about meeting the young man and, presumably, falling in love with him. Then tragedy strikes. Shira's loving older sister dies in childbirth, leaving behind a baby boy and a widower. In order to keep the family together, it is suggested that Shira marry the baby's father. He appears to be a fine man, but he's older than she is. Also, as Shira points out, she had dreams of exploring marriage with a young man, not with a previously-married man who has a child.

It would have been easy for the director to craft a story where the whole community is pushing Shira to marry Yochay, her late sister's widower. That's not how the film was crafted. Everyone respects Shira's right to decide, and Yochay isn't desperate, either. A match has been made for him with a woman from Belgium. (The problem is that he'd have to move to Belgium to be with her, and, of course, he'd take his infant son with him.)

You'll have to see the film to find out what happens next. However, the movie is far more than just a vehicle for a plot. It's an intimate look into the lives of the ultra-orthodox, and into the heart and mind of a young woman who wants to do what is right, but also what is best.

Fill the Void won six Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Film. Hadas Yaron won the Best Actress award at the 2012 Venice Film Festival.

We saw this film at Rochester's Dryden Theatre as part of the exceptional Rochester Jewish Film Festival. I think it will work better on a large screen than on DVD, but it's worth searching for it and seeing it on a small screen if necessary. For reasons I can't understand, this movie has a lukewarm IMDb rating of 6.6. Why? It's a brilliant film and deserves to be seen. Ignore the low rating, and don't miss "Fill the Void."

Over the last dozen or so years, no less than seven films have been made about the orthodox religious community in Israel. These films are:

Forbidden Love (1999); Kadosh (1999); Bat Kol (Inner Voice) (2002); Ushpizin (2004); My Father, My Lord (2007); The Secrets (2007); Eyes Wide Open (2009).

All these films were made by non-religious or at least non-orthodox film makers, and then along came Fill the Void. Its director and scriptwriter, Rama Burshtein, is an orthodox woman who is also a film maker.

Which raises the question whether this new film is more authentic than the previous ones, whether it portrays the orthodox community more faithfully. It should be understood that the orthodox communities in Israel are tightly-knit units, abhorring the outside, modern Western way of life which they perceive as decadent, immoral and corruptive. They still dress as did their ancestors in the Shtetl in Eastern Europe centuries ago, talk mostly Yiddish among themselves and of course, inter-marry only within their milieu.

Fill the Void is indeed about this latter issue, the question of marriage. The questions raised by the protagonists may seem quaint and even amusing to us, but seem of paramount importance to them, as if no other issues occupy their closed life.

This reviewer has no way of assessing the veracity of the facts and can only rely on subjective impressions. The film "rings true", feels true, and the fact that some of the actors come from a religious background adds to the feeling. Viewers might sneer at the seemingly irrelevant questions facing those "strange" people, but the acting convincingly conveys the sentiment that we are indeed dealing with a grave situation.

I came out of the theater thinking not about the heroine, blandly played by Hila Feldman, or about the way she handles her private demons and dilemmas, but about the strange, foreign, incomprehensible community living not a mile away from my house in the same city, yet separated from me by an unbridgeable chasm.

A disturbing movie.

A new beautiful Israeli film currently playing, is called "Fill The Void" and in truth, that it does for both the characters and the audience. It is a moving depiction of how a close knit family deals with a tragedy, expressed in the context of the Israeli Chassidic framework. The family and especially the main character, 18 year old Shira, is completely content within the community, albeit with the limits and restrictions the tradition requires. There is no sense of rebellion, no indication of a desire to live outside this framework. Rather, Shira who is of marriageable age, shows her determination to find a mate who will give her the "real family", one where there are " no lies" as she tells a prospective match on their first (and only) encounter.

Because Shira's older sister, Esther, who is 9 months pregnant, suddenly dies, the idea occurs to her mother that Shira would be the perfect new wife for the newly widowed Yochay. The movie explores, with great sensitivity, the many facets of this possibility.

The characters, who are played to perfection, all have their own "voids" to fill and with her screenplay, scriptwriter/director, Rama Burshtein, guides them in finding each of their answers. There is the older single girl, and Shira's parents, there is the matchmaker, and the disabled maiden aunt. We meet the Rabbi who is the very approachable leader of his community and his various congregants who feel comfortable discussing their true feelings without being judged. We are given an insight into the beauty of their lifestyle as well as a glimpse of each one's particular challenges and how they deal with them.

Both Shira and Yochay struggle with their personal confusions and challenges as they ultimately come to the decision that will shape the rest of their lives. Suffice it to say that each character's void is filled in a way that leaves the audience both moved and satisfied.

In this movie an eighteen-year-old girl, living in an Orthodox Jewish environment, has to make a fateful decision while surrounded with uncertainty-- not only about the consequences of her decision but also about the limits, both outside herself and within herself, on her freedom of action. The movie focuses prominently on her not only figuratively but literally. Her pale, round, expressive face fills the foreground again and again, against the background of brownish interiors and black-clothed men, and it's not a face the viewer gets tired of, nor does it turn her predictable. There are surprises in her behavior, and the audience accepts them. Not so with her male counterpart; when his emotional scene came, I'm sorry to report there were people in the audience who laughed. The movie hadn't made the necessary prior investment in sympathy for him. But to the extent that it belongs to Hadas Yaron as an actress and a photographic subject, it's well worth watching-- and it knows it is; it gives the audience plenty of time to appreciate each shot.

Along with NYFF pick Arat, Fill the Void introduces a new film meme of chaste eroticism, as a young woman creates love to the fierce rustle of silks in prayer.

Director Rama Burshtein was born in New York and studied at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem. In her first feature film, Burshtein tells the ancient story of a man and a woman looking for happiness.

With influences ranging from Jane Austen to David Lynch, the screenplay follows the family of Rabbi Aharon (Chaim Sharir) whose elder daughter Esther (Renana Raz) dies giving birth to infant Mordechai. Only the baby can assuage the grief of mother Rivka (Irit Sheleg), younger sister Shira (Hadas Yaron, in a luminous performance) and husband Yochay (Yiftach Klein).

In the end, the decision rests with Shira. A movie unlike any other.

I discovered this film late Saturday on Netflix during a snowfall here in Edmonton. I've always been fascinated by religions that seem so remote and mysterious to me and yet have persevered through centuries come what may. This film I understand was made by an orthodox woman.Brava! The film feels completely authentic to me. I was absolutely riveted within seconds. The work by ALL concerned was frankly, stunning. I spent a career trying to attain that level of quiet perfection in my own work. These actors, these beautiful actors, managed to convey depths of emotion that ripped my heart out and yet done with such perfect simplicity. What a gift of a story and a gift of a peek behind the curtain of a world I will only ever get a glimpse of. I applaud all the Artists involved in this venture. Well done Ladies and Gentlemen. Well done.

Arranged marriages in the Chassidic Jewish community in Jerusalem, Israel; not an easy subject, since it is basically morally reprehensible. But I was surprised to witness that the film gets away with it. The ending doesn't suggest at all that they will live happily ever after, and before that, the film tells a well balanced story about all those directly involved.

Hadas Yaron did an amazing job and has a natural presence that took me in straight away, but the rest of the cast did very well, too. The photography is beautiful and subtle. It took me a little while to get into the story and the experience of it all, but once it did (about some twenty minutes in), it didn't let me go until the very end.

A good 8 out of 10.

Except for the Jewish law that says a man is not allowed to marry 2 sisters (which Shira does point out when the match is suggested, but is never addressed further. Maybe he just can't marry two living sisters?), it is a perfect picture.

The insight, the mannerisms, the process and procedure, but especially the acting. The furtive staring at the Sabbath table, the awkward passing of the baby. The actions of every day Chassidic life display the characters deep feelings, completely forbidden overt expression and and yet all encompassing shared meaning.

Spoilers start here.

I think the film takes a very healthy position and respect for the question a woman's role in Chassidic society. I see the mother (Rivka) as very pushy and in control of everything in the house. She makes all the decisions and does not need to consult with her husband before making big moves. Shira is given many choices and her opinion is respected. Her mother pressures her as many mothers would but her father, aunt, and rabbi all recommend she make her own choice. Shira fails to define her own needs until after a failed secondary match. She discovers her own desire, and the value of her own feelings, which she was not in touch with when her first match was suggested. I don't think she is passive or pressured. I think she matures and grows as a character as the movie progresses. She learns that what she needs is not just a random bochur (boy) to be her husband but someone she really cares about.

As to the title, although Shira does end up filling the void in everyone's lives, Shira also becomes a complete person for herself. This is what the rabbi was referring to when he said she had to be honest and understand her emotions when he initially rejected the idea of her marrying Yochay. It is what she went on to express to her date whom she rejected on the grounds of needing to establish a home of honesty and truth. And being true to herself is how Yochay eventually convinced her to marry him.

The way the story is told reminds me of the realism of Russian literature. A story of meaning and feeling implied by actions and intensity often in contradiction to the words being used.

p.s.

After reading all of the other reviews I have noticed a couple of regular misunderstandings.

First the guy she has a date with after Yochay is not the boy from the grocery store who turned her down initially.

Secondly Frieda and the other red head are not Shira's sisters.

Set in an orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in Tel Aviv, FILL THE VOID centers around eighteen-year-old Shira's (Haldas Yaron), decision about whether to marry widower Yochay (Yiftach Klein) or not. Yochay was already married to her sister Esther (Renana Raz), but sadly Esther passed away during childbirth. The title sums up the film's principal theme: by following her family's fishes, Shira will fill the void created by Esther's passing, and hence become a good mother to Esther and Yochay's newly-born son Mordecai. Morally speaking, she believes she is doing the right thing by accepting Yochay's offer, but director Rama Burshtein asks us to reflect on whether the decision will fill the void in Shira's life, or simply deepen it. Issues of love never seem to enter Shira's mind; she believes she is obliged to marry, and hence works hard to persuade the rabbi (Melech Thal) to sanction her decision. The film is tightly constructed as a series of close-ups and two-shots: the camera gives us a unique insight into Shira's turbulent state of mind, as she sits opposite Yochay, her head bowed, her lip quivering as she tries her best to maintain a facade of calm. Her family offer her a limited amount of support, but it's clear that they are forcing her into marriage. The only way she can obtain succor is to pray to God: in one sequence she is photographed from above, her eyes staring into the camera, as she tries to listen to His word. The ending is quite achingly poignant; in her wedding dress, Shira looks stunningly beautiful, but she cannot sit still. Her body repeatedly rocks from left to right, almost as if she is trying to lull herself into a trance- like state to cope with her forthcoming ordeal. Burshtein cuts to the wedding ceremony, where her head is covered with a white sheet; she is quite literally blinded to what follows, while the families celebrate. The film ends with the now-married couple alone after the ceremony has concluded. They stand at either end of the room and Shira stares blankly into space, underlining the irony inherent in the film's title. A low-key film, but totally compelling nonetheless.

This was an interesting movie, as others have pointed out, because it gives a behind-the- scenes look at Orthodox Jews. But a big disappointment (for me, philosophically) was when Shira commented, "Maybe this is the way it was meant to work out." I can't remember the exact words, but that was the idea—that this marriage with her brother-in-law was somehow fated and her destiny. This school of thought legitimizes ANY action by dragging in fate. WHATEVER I do, it was "fated." Blah. Nonsense! Also, a little shiver went through me as I watched this because I was reminded of my junior prom in high school. I took the younger sister of my best friend. I was creeped out the whole time because (of course!) the younger sister had many of the characteristics of my friend...it was almost like dating him! Needless to say, I had no more dates with the younger sister. How much creepier it would be to marry your sister's husband! Kinky maybe, but definitely creepy. Inevitably he would call you by her name, attribute her qualities to you, etc. It's almost like you would be sacrificing your own identity to resurrect your dead sister. Yuk. And I think that's why the director ended the movie by showing them together in the bedroom after the wedding: What now? Was this really such a great idea? Another observation, which applies to Amish, Mennonites, etc. as well as to Orthodox Jews--why pick a period in time (the 17th c. seems to be a favorite) and pretend you still lived in 1650? If you were TRULY Orthodox, wouldn't you dress the way Moses did (for example)? Why seize upon Eastern Europe c. 1650? Those silly fur hats might be just the thing for a brisk Minsk winter, but they're just silly in balmy Israel. And surely Israel would be far more "authentic" and "Orthodox" than Minsk. Finally, I was reminded of my year living in a neighborhood filled with Lubovitch Jews. Occasionally the lady across the street would come over and ask me to turn on her stove on the Sabbath. No problem, I was happy to "help." Then one day I decided to check out the Sabbath regulations in the Old Testament. Sure enough, you weren't supposed to "work" on the Sabbath, which, if you stretched it, could include turning on the stove (how about the lights? And of course how about the effort required to walk across the street to get me to turn on the stove vs. the effort to simply turn on the stove myself?). But...wait! read a little further: these regulations also applied to "the stranger living among you." Surely I was the epitome of "the stranger living among you"! I still can't figure that one out.

Rama Burshtein's first feature film Lemale et ha'halal / Filling the Void was awarded the prize for the best Israeli movie in 2012 and yet, it belongs to a genre which is quite unique in the landscape of the Israeli cinema. Films about the life of the ultra-Orthodox community are made in the low numbers and I can remember only one such significant film of this kind, (the slightly better) Ha-Ushpizin. Paradoxically, Filling the Void was to some extent a reaction of the director to Gidi Dar and Shuli Rand's film, which she did not appreciate as authentic enough and respectful enough towards the ultra-Orthodox ('haredi') community (I did not have any such feeling when I saw their film). It took many years to the director (an ultra-Orthodox herself, quite a unique status in her community) and the effort deserves a lot of respect, and so does the resulting film as well.

Let us try to make abstraction of the location (the small haredi community in the most secular city of Tel Aviv) and look at this film as to any other 'ethnic' movie. The story talks about the dilemma of a beautiful young girl who reached the age of marriage. In her community marriage is always arranged and blessed by the parents. There is a slight room for decision for the young woman who can meet the candidates and refuse the match if she does not like them. Not much more than this however. And there are more rules. As her elder sister dies at birth-giving, her mother takes the new born in her care, but the best interest of the family and the community is that the girl would marry the widower. The balance between duty and love can tear the soul of any young woman, but especially the one of a girl living in a community in which women's principal destiny is marriage, and where the choice happens only once in one's life. Eventually things arrange, as the widower is also the most handsome and most sensitive male around and because all decisions (important or small details of life) reach eventually the wise rabbi who plays the role of the 'deus ex machina' in the Hollywood scripts. (how appropriate this Latin expression is here).

The script is far from perfect from an intrigue point of view, and there are more flaws to come. Unless the script written by Rama Burshtein for director Rama Burshtein was fully respectful to the the norms of the community she lives in she would never make the film. So there is no explicit critic or social comment whatsoever in this film, and this may make the blood boil to many feminist and not-so-feminist but secular viewers. The handling of money as a way to solve problems during the audiences at the rabbi may be considered kind of a satire, until you know that this is actually the way a Purim custom is enacted at the rabbinical courts. The lack of social comment is replaced by a painful attention to the details of the rituals and life of the community and the individuals living within. Rama Burshtein succeeds to create many charming moments of true cinema, either by unusual camera angles (the scene of the circumcision), by elaborate costumes and authentic setting, or by directing a team of actors, many of them non-religious (like Hadas Yaron and Yftach Klein in the lead roles) into the details not only of the tradition that the characters represent and of the emotions that they feel.

There is a lot of curiosity and openness from the non-religious or not-so-religious sectors of the Israeli society towards the lives and feelings of the ultra-Orthodox community and this is reflected also by the success of this film. Rama Burshtein is a talented film maker but taking into consideration her community and style of life I wonder if there will be a second film at this level of achievement - because despite its flaws 'Fill the Void' is an achievement in its own way.

The first time I tried to watch this film I closed the TV about halfway through because it was too static. This time I decided to stick with it to the end, even though my mind kept wandering all the time - it is simply too low-key and visually drab to keep the interest. Just one example: in the early scene where the heroine's sister collapses in the bathroom, we don't see her at all - the camera is stuck somewhere across the room and we are briefly shown alarmed characters outside the bathroom, then cut to the next scene. I wanted to scream: not this way! They should have shown what happens in the bathroom, with camera moving and close-ups of the actors.

Those actors cannot be blamed, they all make you believe that they are the characters they play. Except maybe the leading actress, who is too beautiful for her role - they should have cast someone less glamorous, because she is too much in contrast with the dreariness of everything around her. The major merit of this film is the portrayal of a culture rarely shown in film, but as film-making it badly lacks energy.

A tragically sad and horrifying film about a group of people who have isolated themselves into a micro-world of limited choices. Their options are controlled by a religious dogma of oppression and fear, without any weight assigned to personal emotions or hope.

Aside from child abuse, why would a young girl be forced to such choices?

Even if we think the male lead is a good man for her, why would anyone else think so? Are we all Jane Austen matchmaker scum from two centuries ago?

This is a horror film for those who think faith overrules common sense. I found it terrifying.