One of Us

I just want to say first and foremost that I am in awe of the three featured individuals. Etty, Luzer, and Arye/Ari are former members of Brooklyn's Hasidic Jewish community who, for various reasons, and out of varying degrees of excruciating horror or sadness, have chosen to leave the only community they've ever known—a community that eschews formal education, job skill-building, or co-mingling with a 21st-century secular world. In effect, by choosing to use the Internet or eat cheeseburgers or enter a public library, formerly Hasidic Jews in New York face complete isolation and ostracism.

All three stories are heartbreaking in their own ways, and each person was heroic in their willingness to challenge and question a system that does not celebrate America's "rugged individualism." It's no doubt hard for many of us in the secular world to grasp just how complicated it may be to confront such a world. But the real heroism is within Etty, an extraordinarily articulate woman with such steely resolve and fierce affection for her seven children by an abusive husband she barely knew before marrying. It's a mystery how she became so strong, especially given what happens during the course of the film, but she deserves a standing ovation for never losing sight of her principles and her humanity.

Beautifully shot and scored, this film is a thoughtfully constructed and deeply humane exploration of the role of the American Hasidic community in the wake of the Holocaust. I hope there is a follow-up film from the same creators.

Hasidic Judaism is an unknown topic to a lot of people so it was pretty informative for me. We see how ridiculously backwards these guys' lives are in one of the most modern cities in the world.

It's an interesting documentary about 3 brave people who decided to walk away from the Hasidic Jewish community and talk about how they are struggling with the "outside" life.

A powerful and personal portrait of ostracism from a community. The documentary itself is a standard format but it's what it reveals about the inner workings of a defensive an insular group that is so affecting. No matter the reason or history I can't agree with how Ety was treated by those she used to belong to.

The film does an excellent job of drawing the viewers into the characters who are brave to share their horrific stories. That said the movie left me feeling short - what happened to the characters? where do we go from here?

Also, the film only depicts the Satmar Chassidic sects, one of many and the most insular. Some such as the Lubavitch value community outreach and sponsor Chabad as a house of worship that welcomes all Jews.

To the gentleman reviewer who said that Chassidic customs date back to Moses is plain wrong. The Chassidic movement started in 18th century Europe and the outfits the men wore (and still do) were designed to mock the European nobility of that time. Many of the customs such as women shaving their hair have nothing to do with Jewish law, and American Reform/Conservative Judaic practices do not erase "99%" of Jewish observances. Furthermore, not all Orthodox are Chassidic and most Jews are not orthodox...and so it goes.

We Jews come in different shapes, sizes and have varying degrees of observance. It is unfortunate that there are some awfully bad eggs.

This documentary was life changing for me. It made me realize how lucky I am to be free of a world that made me so sad.

And how easy I had it compared to others who left religion.

Seeing the violence inflicted on Etty made me sick to my stomach.

Seeing the community be willing to give her kids to a man who beat them because better they be battered religiously than be secular made me sick.

Seeing the blacked out faces of little girls made me nauseous.

Hearing how she was stalked and assaulted and how the community spied on her and ruined her life made me hatefully angry.

Honestly, I can't believe we allow this in the US. We shouldn't.

All religious communities need sunlight like this, this movie is a wake up call and worth seeing by everyone, but especially members of the community who need to clean up what is happening.