The Light Ahead

An inside job: made in Yiddish for the American immigrant Jewish population, this celebrates the trials and joys of being one of the 'chosen' people, chosen to suffer, too, it often seemed. Set in a Chagall-like Russian shetl near Odessa, where to be a Jew was synonymous with being impoverished, the film combines a sentimental love story - between a lame young man and a beautiful blind orphan - with a conflict between the working Jews and the village leaders over the spending of community funds. The two stories are brought together through the character of Reb Mendele, an avuncular bookseller who spreads hope and wisdom but privately laments in passionate tones the fate of his people. Ulmer's film touches the wellsprings of both Jewish sentimentality and hard-headed realism, exposing superstition as it praises true faith and courageous action.