Your Movie Library
Cast
- Rusty SchwimmerNarrator (voice)
- Harry BelafonteSelf
- Glen CampbellSelf
- Connie FrancisSelf
- Danny MasengSelf
- Leonard NimoySelf
- Regina SpektorSelf
Recommendations
- 85
NPR
According to Hava Nagila: The Movie, an infectiously high-spirited new documentary by Roberta Grossman, the most cornball song in the Jewish repertoire has a colorful history that has carried Ashkenazi Jews through the joy and sorrow of 150 years of being thrown around the world. - 80
Los Angeles Times
It's a fun, nostalgic, informative journey. Aided by vivid archival footage and photos, the movie charts the evolution of the song through the Holocaust, the birth of Israel and the modern Jewish Diaspora. - 75
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Roberta Grossman’s cute documentary gives weight to the tune, tracing its lineage to a town – Sadagora, in the Ukraine – and the 19th century. It bubbled to life as a “Nigun,” a wordless hymn or prayer, more hummed than sung. - 75
Boston Globe
Hava Nagila (The Movie) guarantees that the next time you hear the song at a party, you won’t think of it quite the same way. Of course, that won’t slow anyone rushing to the dance floor. - 75
RogerEbert.com
A slight, but very satisfying, and at times, surprisingly moving, documentary. - 70
The New York Times
The interviews are mostly good and instructive, but the well-chosen historical footage is better. - 60
New York Daily News
While the filmmakers never quite make the case that their chosen melody deserves its own full-length film, they do ensure that you’ll leave the theater happily humming it. - 50
New York Post
By the movie’s end, the party guests may be ready to dance the hora — or they may find themselves sitting this one out. “Hava” will have its revenge, however: It’s still stuck in my head.