Eyes Wide Open

It’s often said about religion that people get in the way of a nice idea. It’s certainly true in Israeli filmmakers Merav Doster and Haim Tabakman’s story of Aaron, an Orthodox Jewish butcher who finds himself in love with a young man named Ezri who comes to work for him.

Despite saying that all desires come from God and that a man who denies himself something is a sinner, the local community leader shuns him and Aaron finds himself an outcast.

Doster and Tabakman’s views on the hypocrisy of the Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem, teaching tolerance and understanding on paper but in practice demanding conformity with the help of gangs of “modesty guards”, gossip, intimidation and violence are very clear and sometimes make difficult viewing. It’s a bitter reminder of the unwelcome influence religion still has in parts of the world today and the desperate need for love and understanding over dogma. [Scotty McKellar]