DISOBEDIENCE by Campbell Dalglish, [email protected] When freedom to love whomever we choose means breaking the mold of family social structures and the religions that have supported them, a spiritual cold war emerges like a flower in the middle of a sidewalk in North London, as though it's always been there, and will never go away, as hard as we might pray. So what can one do about that flower? The film, "Disobedience," by Chilean director, Sebastián Lelio (A Fantastic Woman 2017 and Gloria 2013) addresses this question raised by the intimate love affair between two Jewish women. Based on the novel of the same name by Naomi Alderman (2006) who also wrote the popular dystopian novel “The Power" (2017) about women taking over the world, this love story challenges an entire Jewish faith based community. "Disobedience" opens with a sermon by Rabbi Rav Krushka, played by Anton Lesser (Game Of Thrones) defining a Hebrew's view of British existence in three parts: Angels, Monsters and of course us - humans - caught in between. His sermon ends with him keeling over dead before his North London congregation. Cut to his daughter, photographer Ronit Krushka played by Rachel Weisz (Constant Gardener 2005 and Lobster 2015) making her artistic study in New York of a similar looking old man stripped to his waste covered in tattoos when she is interrupted by the news of her father's death. Right away we are lead to see that this woman is living a rather odd existential life in New York City. In response to the news of her father's death, she has sex with a strange man in a bathroom. There is something disturbing going on inside her psyche and we are soon to learn just what that is, as she returns home to London for her father's traditional Jewish wake. Dovid Kuperman, the dead rabbi's disciple, played like a contained bomb by Alessandro Nivola from David Russell's film, American Hustle, opens the door to her. He is both surprised that she has come home and he is moved deeply. "Why are you here? What do you want?" he keeps asking her. Dovid appears to have an estranged history with Ronit. But he cannot express what that is, making it painfully clear that we need to know in order to follow this psychological romance that borders on being a thriller as lovers reunite in a hostile environment. No one in Ronit's past seems to be able to accept her, even though it was her father who passed away. Not one person welcomes her home. Not one of them fully embraces her. Not even her good friend, Esti Kuperman (Rachel McAdams from The Notebook). As this mysterious love affair reveals itself we learn about these characters gripped in the moment by their religion. Their past is a prison and their future is a trap. Cinematographer Danny Cohen (The Danish Girl 2015) captures every breath, every word, every slight glance under a dark frown to reveal the twisted souls that suffer in each of the characters as they struggle to unearth a cursed love affair while burying their beloved rabbi. Alessandro Nivola has a particularly dramatic moment as he must, completely unprepared, address his orthodox community when he is called forth to take over leadership of the deceased rabbi while privately accepting the declaration of love between his wife Esti and the Rabbi's daughter, Ronit. What relief can he offer everyone from a love affair that has paralyzed this community? What understanding? The suspense is kept up through the bitter end, leaving us still wondering what to do with a love so pure that has caused so much pain, so much disturbance, one that has no cure. Perhaps Rachel Weisz's answer comes from her own tool kit as an actress: "The only way to feel free is to get lost." With disciplined abandonment, both Rachel actresses in this film discover deep conflicted love for each other. Maybe, if Dovid doesn't judge this love affair and hold it up to some moral standard, maybe he can co-exist with that rare stubborn flower that insists on appearing in the middle of the road without needing to "understand" it according to his Jewish faith..