Synopsis
Penetrating the insular world of New York's Hasidic community, focusing on three individuals driven to break away despite threats of retaliation.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- EttyHerself, an Hasidic member
- Chani GetterHerself, Footsteps counselor (ex-Hasidic)
- Ari HershkowitzHimself, ex-Hasidic
- Luzer TwerskyHimself, ex-Hasidic
- Yosef RapaportHimself, Hasidic Community Member
- David MandelbaumHimself, artistic director / new Yiddish rep
Recommendations
- 91
IndieWire
One of Us offers a rare window into a highly insular community that is often misunderstood, or tacitly sanctioned for fear of stoking anti-semitism. - 88
RogerEbert.com
One of Us is so strong as-is that its more harrowing sections — particularly Ari's account of his childhood suffering and the details of Rachel's fight for freedom — are so already hard to watch that you might want to turn away. - 80
The New York Times
As a documentary, One of Us is a small act of portraiture, but each portrait captures the pain of having a life upended. - 80
Village Voice
The film is a nuanced and moving illustration of the dilemma facing doubting members of the growing Hasidic community in New York City. - 80
Los Angeles Times
In the mythology of personal growth, liberating yourself leads invariably to increased happiness. Yet what characterizes the seekers in the powerful One of Us is nothing that straightforward. - 80
Vox
The film’s revelations are two-pronged: They uncover much about the Hasidic community, while also more broadly exposing how insular groups keep people in and everyone else out. It’s hard to leave, even when staying is impossible too. - 80
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Grady and Ewing use music as scary as in any horror film. They had no interest in making an “objective documentary,” although I doubt the Hasidim would have made themselves available to two women with a camera and their own hair. In such cases, they usually say, “If you want to understand us, read the Torah.” - 75
Slant Magazine
It's incisive in its condemnation of the oppression innate in the social structure of Brooklyn's Hasidic communities.
