wj2007
Joined Oct 2005
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wj2007's rating
Last evening I saw a wonderful movie, "SHTTL."
It is a very powerful moving depiction of life in a Jewish shtetl in the western Ukraine just across the border from German occupied Poland on June 21, 1941, the day before the German invasion of the USSR. "SHTTLT" is not the nostalgic vision of "Fiddler on the Roof." Rather it depicts the daily struggles of shtetl Jews to live and survive.
The film is in very limited release around the country. Go to see it if and when it plays in your area! You will thank me.
The film is in very limited release around the country. Go to see it if and when it plays in your area! You will thank me.
I saw this movie when it first came out more than fifty years ago. I just saw it again. Frankly I was quite disappointed. Basically it simply is not all that funny.
IMHO save for this being the first film Woody Allen wrote, directed, and starred in, there is almost no reason to watch this film. It is of interest purely for historical reasons, e.g., you may want to see Woody Allen at a time when he actually still had some real hair, and you may want to see the first on screen version of Woody Allen as a an archetypal nebish. However beyond that, the film simply is a forgettable, boring, waste of time.
My recommendation is that if you want to see the early Woody Allen, watch Bananas, Sleeper, Play It Again Sam, and especially Anne Hall. Those are the movies which marked the real start of his film career.
IMHO save for this being the first film Woody Allen wrote, directed, and starred in, there is almost no reason to watch this film. It is of interest purely for historical reasons, e.g., you may want to see Woody Allen at a time when he actually still had some real hair, and you may want to see the first on screen version of Woody Allen as a an archetypal nebish. However beyond that, the film simply is a forgettable, boring, waste of time.
My recommendation is that if you want to see the early Woody Allen, watch Bananas, Sleeper, Play It Again Sam, and especially Anne Hall. Those are the movies which marked the real start of his film career.
In some respects, this movie does not age well. Yes, it was the highest grossing film of 1952 and yes it did win the Oscar for Best Picture. And several of the cast of wonderful. Frankly given current tastes, the movie can easily be somewhat boring. The story line is rather thin and largely predicable.
And yet ...
In other respects, this movie is a wonderful piece of Americana. It depicts an American institution - the three ring big top circus with animal acts and glitz - that is no more. It gives you a feel for what the American circus must have been like in the early and middle 20th century and what the performers must have been like. Nothing like this now exists. For that alone, it is worth watching.
So I am glad that I had the opportunity to see this film, though I doubt that I will ever do so again.
And yet ...
In other respects, this movie is a wonderful piece of Americana. It depicts an American institution - the three ring big top circus with animal acts and glitz - that is no more. It gives you a feel for what the American circus must have been like in the early and middle 20th century and what the performers must have been like. Nothing like this now exists. For that alone, it is worth watching.
So I am glad that I had the opportunity to see this film, though I doubt that I will ever do so again.
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