Bruriah

Avraham Kushnir's Israeli drama focuses on the tensions within an Orthodox Jewish family, where rigid tradition fights a losing battle against contemporary values. The title refers to the elusive 2nd-century Talmudic figure who was unsuccessfully tested in her fidelity by her rabbi husband. But the film is about a modern Bruriah (Hadar Galron), who is trying to locate a lost book written by her father, a rabbi excommunicated for allegedly heretical Talmudic commentary. As Bruriah witnesses mild forms of rebellion—including her daughter's plan to become a rabbi and a friend's aggressive push for a rabbinical divorce—she quietly reconsiders her own value as a wife and mother. But her sour husband does not appreciate change, and his attempt to replay the Talmud story by pushing an attractive colleague into Bruriah's path only complicates things. Bruriah is far too mild to make any significant sociological point—the title character is depressingly passive, while her eventual belated move to action feels anti-climactic. Ultimately, the film comes across as a meditation on girl power that arrives four decades late to the sisterhood of feminist cinema. Optional. (P. Hall)