Torah Goes To The Movies

These are some of the movies and books Rabbi Henoch refers to in his D'var Torahs. Periodically, Rabbi does an entire shiur about a particular movie. Times and places for these are shown at the bottom of the page.

If you're looking for something to rent, these are some real winners. [Some of them are not for children, so please read the reviews.]

Rabbi's suggested reading list follows the movies. (Watch for occasional additions to these lists.)

Synopses follow the movie titles, many taken from the Rabbi's discussions. Click on the titles for details. [updated 7/13/04] American Beauty dessication & emptiness of suburban life As Good as it Gets truth, acceptance, and forgiving A Thousand Clowns A Walk to Remember Amalek - adolescent issues Beautiful Mind ezer k'negdo - the help meet - here saving a genius [true story] Billy Budd Billy Elliot Changing Lanes feuding and rage, forgiving and transformation Dead Man Walking comfort for the condemned Defending Your Life Far From Heaven relationships that challenge convention Fiddler on the Roof Jewish identity, history Good Will Hunting genius in the rough Groundhog Day refining the approach through repetition Heartbreak Kid Jewish identity Hurricane Joseph's path of teshuvah Instinct illusions of control Jerry McGuire K-PAX inter-dimensional comfort for a broken heart Liberty Heights a pastiche of Jewish life from the '50s Magnolia plague of frogs / breakdown of parent-child relationship Mr. Saturday Night Rabbit Proof Fence farmers vs. shepards; mother daughter issues Radio Days Woody Allen's look at Jewish life in the '30s & '40s Razor's Edge helping or hindering / examining motives Shine Straight from the Heart Sunshine The Apostle the journey of Teshuvah The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Jewish identity The Believer self-loathing engenders a Jewish Neo-Nazi [true story] The Chosen father / son issues - clash between Zionists & Hasidim The Fixer Soviet injustice | Dalton Trumbo script The Front Woody Allen [seriously!] and the Blacklist/McCarthyism The Giraffe (aka Meshugge) Jewish identity buffeted by Nazism The Matrix Abraham differentiating from Lot; being Jewish in a world of artifice [It's the question that drives us] The Passover Plot alternate story of the birth of Christianity The Pledge trust vs. betrayal / Joseph setting out to connect with his brothers The Power of One overcoming the tyranny of habit The Straight Story Trembling Before G-d gay and lesbian Orthodox and Hasidic Jews Unfaithful dessication & emptiness of suburban life What Dreams May Come dreams and the afterlife Zelig Jewish identity, or lack of it   Other people's recommendations: Baraka a reverent meditation on the world's sacred spots Dreams Kurosawa's breathtaking series of vignettes Latcho Drom intimate portrait of the Gypsies, told with music Lathe of Heaven A guy who's dreams influence reality The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser true story of a man raised in isolation The Loved One witty, hilarious sendup of the American funeral industry The Ruling Class black comedy about Christianity and British attitude The Truman Show unreliability of perceptions Prospero' Books beautiful adaptation of Shakespeare's Tempest Richard III definitive version of the Shakespeare play True Stories scathing portrait of Generica My Dinner with Andre looks at the variety of ways people live Thanks to Internet Movie Database for the taglines. Suggested Reading: The Painted Bird / Jerzy Kosinski East of Eden / John Steinbeck Escape From Freedom / Erich Fromm Flatland / Edwin Abbott The Invisible Man / Ralph Ellison Joseph and His Brothers / Thomas Mann Man's Search for Meaning / Viktor E. Frankl Operation Shylock / Philip Roth Soul on Ice / Eldridge Cleaver The Slave / The Dibbuk / The Penitent / Isaac Bashevis Singer Enemies - A Love Story / Isaac Bashevis Singer The Hebrew Letters - Channels of Creative Consciousness / Rabbi Yitzach Ginsburg What Makes Sammy Run / Budd Schulberg Shivitti: A Vision by Ka-Tzentnik 135633 [ISBN 0062508709] Auschwitz and LSD Halacha/Jewish Philosophy: The 39 Avot - Melacha of Shabbat / Rabbi Baruch Chait Shemirath Shabbat / Yeshua Y. Newirth Code of Jewish Law / Ganzfried Goldin [Shulchan Aruch] The Secret of Jewish Femininity / Tehilla Abramov The Laws of Kashrus / Rabbi Benjamin Forst Sacred Fire / Aish Kodesh The Holy Fire / Pizetzer Rabbi The Way of G-D / Moses Chaim Luzzatto