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Reviews
A Stranger Among Us (1992)
Better than most... but not perfect
Although this movie does a more accurate job of portraying us religious Jew than most others do (such as "Yentl" and "The Chosen"), it's not perfect. Many facets of Jewish life can be culled from this, but if something seems too ridiculous to be true, it probably is. Then again, many things may seem out-of-place if you're unfamiliar with religious Jews, so that might not be true. Suffice it to say that religious Jews, especially Chasidim, hold a lot more strongly to their morals than the movie portrays. Aside from that, and some very un-Chasidish-like conversations that go on, it wasn't a bad two hours. So if you already know about the basics, go ahead. The story is interesting, although parental discretion (and possible editing) is advised.
David Copperfield (1999)
A great movie, though long
I've read most of the book, and find the book to be both very faithful and not faithful at all simultaneously. Some extravagant parts (which Dickens wrote to thicken and enrich the plot) have been cut out to shorten the film (hey, it's over three hours already). All in all, a great movie to watch regardless, fairly clean (by today's standards) and great family entertainment. The fact that his life constantly goes up and down, very rarely staying in a straight line, also adds to a great movie. I think the director was great at capturing the time period and protocols of the times, and did this without straying from the main story line.