Punk Jews

Despite the eye-catching title Punk Jews is a rather tepid documentary, an attempt to look at subcultures within mainstream Judaism with so loose and broad a focus it ends up meaning very little. The problem is perhaps that the filmmakers defined punk so loosely and found no shortage of worthy subjects: a Yiddish theatre troupe, a man trying to bring about awareness of sexual abuse in the orthodox community he left behind, black orthodox Jews who also rap etc. The documentary lurches from one subject to the next, only giving cursory appreciation to people whose individual endeavours would be worthy of a full length documentary themselves.

Still Punk Jews is an enjoyable, fast-paced film and for those interested in Judaism, sub-cultures or who just want something quick and easy to watch it's an interesting way to kill an hour.