One of Us (2017)

I love this movie so much

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

What else can I say? It's an amazing documentary. Powerful stories and great music, the directors are FABULOUS so it got snubbed by the Oscars.

Great look inside stories that should be heard. However,it is very incorrect in basic facts which for a documentary are real make it or break it. It is a beautiful look into the lives of those who are struggling inside and out some of the most ultra hasidic communities. However the information provided about the hasidic world,sectors,groups and all aspects of their lives, Religion views of each of these groups and so on are simply not correct. Aside from this influencing the stories of those who should be heard,it also gives a very unrealistic vibe for anyone with knowledge about the Jewish world. Wrapping up dozens of different hasidic communities into the the term "hasidic world" "views" or even "religious laws" is poor reasearch and/or understanding at best if not tendentious. And that's what makes a dacumentry good or bad. Seeing as this is a documentary,well,it's pretty bad. Perhaps calling it "Leaving the Satmar world" (a cult like hasidic sect) Which according to the stories they all indeed were part of,would make this a 10 star review.

Well edited that is my first comment. Well edited and constructed as a documentary film. An important story unlike many other stories of insular communities that fear the modern world and how it will affect their flock.It does not include the young Hasidic man who left and trans into a woman. Perhaps that is a story that deserves its own documentary.To the courageous men and women who step out of the circle and into the unknown, through their courage, desire, their wanting to let go of something which for them is outdated, I am humbled by your beings.The most important observation for me of this film which I relate to Israel as a nation, we are a people who came from survivors, be it the European holocaust or the holocaust Jews faced in the Sephardic and Arab countries. Somehow for some reason we survive to carry on our tradition of loving the One God.And we are a damaged people who continually remember that in each generation we must face potential persecution for our commitment and love of God. We are an amazing people who through our love of God, in however we may express it continue to be on this planet even now with our own country and communities like this Hassidic community.This is a film that should be screened in all schools around the world - an example of people wanting to live in freedom and yet are always haunted by their desire to love and be Good to God.Amen - bless you all and to those support groups who help people transition from one world to another.

I just want to say first and foremost that I am in awe of the three featured individuals. Etty, Luzer, and Arye/Ari are former members of Brooklyn's Hasidic Jewish community who, for various reasons, and out of varying degrees of excruciating horror or sadness, have chosen to leave the only community they've ever known—a community that eschews formal education, job skill-building, or co-mingling with a 21st-century secular world. In effect, by choosing to use the Internet or eat cheeseburgers or enter a public library, formerly Hasidic Jews in New York face complete isolation and ostracism.All three stories are heartbreaking in their own ways, and each person was heroic in their willingness to challenge and question a system that does not celebrate America's "rugged individualism." It's no doubt hard for many of us in the secular world to grasp just how complicated it may be to confront such a world. But the real heroism is within Etty, an extraordinarily articulate woman with such steely resolve and fierce affection for her seven children by an abusive husband she barely knew before marrying. It's a mystery how she became so strong, especially given what happens during the course of the film, but she deserves a standing ovation for never losing sight of her principles and her humanity.Beautifully shot and scored, this film is a thoughtfully constructed and deeply humane exploration of the role of the American Hasidic community in the wake of the Holocaust. I hope there is a follow-up film from the same creators.