Film Reviews by BM

The struggle of one decent man who is driven to despair by the cruel workings of bureaucracy. He is caught in a crossfire between the "jobseekers allowance" and the "sickness benefit" rules by ordinary civil servants "just doing their job." He forms a friendship with a single mum trying to cope and driven to the food bank in order to survive. Both are actors but totally believable. This is Ken Loach's just criticism of a 21st century society ruled by a government with a 19th century ideology.

This is a strange film and left us wondering who made it and why. The idea of a Jewish boy seeking to escape the claustrophobic atmosphere of the ultra-Orthodox community is not new and has been explored in several American and Israeli films over the years. But this one is simply unbelievable. The characters are totally unconvincing, the acting is poor, and the story line borders on the anti-semitic, with an allegedly learned rabbi figure who pays the "hero" to commit arson, knowing that there are people in the building he is paid to fire-bomb. The setting is unclear - can it be London or Manchester, which are the only cities with a significant ultra-Orthodox community ? It's impossible to tell from the accents, which are mainly "mock-Jewish". I think this film should be withdrawn from circulation. It is a shabby farce of a film. PS. I am not a religious Jew, and have no time for the ultra-Orthodox or their self-imposed ghetto.