THE WOMEN’S BALCONY film review

– By Cate Marquis –

Charming and warm, the Israeli comedy “The Women’s Balcony” entertains but also captures an appealing feeling of community, and even family, that being part of a religious congregation can bring. It is no small feat.

That sense of a close, happy congregation was inspired by screenwriter Shlomit Nehama’s own childhood experience in Jerusalem. She and director Emil Ben-Shimon bill “The Women’s Balcony” as a comedy but dramedy might be a better description, although it has plenty of comic moments and comedians in the cast. However, at the story’s heart is a challenge to the existence of a close-knit, happy traditional congregation and its moderate ways.

This winning, well-made film opens with a moment of joy, as the congregation marches down a narrow Jerusalem street, carrying food for a bar mitzvah at their shul. As they settle in at their old synagogue, the women make way for the rabbi’s wife in their balcony, while below one of the men gently pranks another before the ceremony starts. When it is discovered some treat has been left at home, the rabbi gets a signal from his wife to stretch out his story, while a child is sent to fetch it.

READ THE FULL REVIEW AT ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT:

http://www.stljewishlight.com/features/article_8042b696-829d-11e7-b267-db4fc6c8eb14.html