When I first decided to go to this Israeli movie, showing at the Jewish International Film Festival in Australia I just knew the bare bones of the plot outline - an ultra orthodox Haredi man, Yair, living in an ultra orthodox enclave in Jerusalem decides to suspend his yeshiva studies to start his own business, namely a computer shop. As the community he belongs to disapproves of modern things like radio, TV and the internet which they consider to be evilly corrupting, he has his work cut out for him to gain acceptance of his shop. As I watched the movie which movingly depicted his struggles with the organised community and the effect of this on him and his wife I really felt for both of them. The villains seemed to be realistically portrayed and I had very little sympathy for them and their attitudes, quite apart from their thuggish and corrupt standover tactics. Yet the movie seemed very much about real people rather than a simple polemic. Of course the ultra orthodox people against whom he struggled will never see the movie as they don't go to movies either. But I felt the story was one which was worthy of being told. I was mildly surprised to read on screen at the end that the movie was actually based on fact and later read that it is actually based on the life of the writer/director. I'm so glad he made this moving and meaningful movie.
