By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.125 cats
Director: Amy Geller | Gerry Peary
Country: united_states
Year: 2020
Running time: 73
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8692562
Diane says: “What do you do when a competitor horns in on your territory? Specifically, how can liberal religion hold its own against the enthusiasm, reassuring convictions, and deliberate outreach of fundamentalist sects? This is the question of most interest to me after watching THE RABBI GOES WEST by Chlotrudians Gerry Peary and Amy Geller.
“The doc introduces us to Rabbi Chaim Bruk, a Chabad Lubavitcher from Brooklyn who chooses Montana, of all places, as his mission field. (I’m amazed to learn that the Jewish population has grown to 2,000 since I lived there 20 years ago.) Peary and Geller look at the Rabbi’s motivation and tactics (repeat “sales” visits, Scotch and sushi night!) to get Jews to claim their Jewishness—which to him means religious observances. As Rabbi Chaim starts impinging on the territories of existing synagogues, those more liberal rabbis are not happy about his success. But what they offer comes across as a less welcoming, paler version of Judaism. While Rabbi Chaim works tirelessly to get every Jew in Montana to put a mezuzah on their door, another rabbi says, wanly, “I assume if someone wants a mezuzah on their door, they’ll ask me.”
“And this being Montana, a longtime refuge for right-wing extremists, what to make of Chaim’s comment that ‘Montana has always been a place where Jews have been welcomed and loved’? Later in the film, we see how Chaim’s response to a neo-Nazi threat in a corner of the state conflicts with that of the local rabbi, threatening, in her mind, the safety of the local congregation.
“In 80 minutes, you’ll get a little history of the Chabad movement, klezmer music mixed with the Western landscape, and an uncomfortable immersion into this conflict. While the directors let the protagonists speak for themselves, I’d say they control the narrative more than letting it play out. 4 cats”
Julie says: “It’s worth seeing. It’s one of those docs where the makers discover all sorts of new and interesting things along the way. 4.25 cats“