Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69503 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-10-10
• Formats: Black & White, Collector's Edition, Restored, Special Edition, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Yiddish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Customer Reviews

Oldie but Goodie

This is a fine piece of work by people who really understand how to portray a Jewish story. I enjoyed the film and the excellent service.

Superb yiddish film
Of the (approximately 2-dozen) Yiddish films I've seen, this one resonated deepest with me both during and after the viewing. For starters, most people today haven't got a clue at all as to the nature of the European Jewish culture that disappeared in WWII. When you see Maurice Schwartz, hear his voice inflections, see the way he moves his hands, and more importantly how his character thinks, how Tevye works his way through his problems, you will be seeing a type of person that is no more... a symbol of the cultures now gone. I've very rarely come across such a powerful reminder of my grandparents' generation, a whole generation of people now gone that I remember so well. And my understanding of modern Jewish culture is so much deeper.

He's human, he's flawed, but if you've got a Jewish soul, you will truly love Schwartz' Tevye, brought to life.

What is more, the film is captivating, raw, and powerful. While its oft-cited Hollywood cousin, "Fiddler on the Roof" is sentimental and purposefully avoids the deepest pains of Shalom Aleichem's Tevye stories, this film tackles them head on. For example, the film has no qualms portraying the vast cultural differences between the Jews and the Poles, in terms / events so searing and scorching you won't forget it... and you may not even believe that such a contrast existed, that the Polish peasants could possibly be so rude and boorish (keep in mind the word "pogrom" and you may well believe what you see in the film as a true portrayal!)

A must-see film, I'd say. And if I were to choose only a single Yiddish film for my library, this would without a doubt be the one to pick. And, it IS the one Yiddish film I've bought for my DVD library!