Menashe

The life of the ultra-Orthodox community of Jews in Borough Park, Brooklyn, is shaped by strict rules that remain rigid even in the face of bad fortune. Following the death of his wife, the not-so-Orthodox, sympathetic outsider Menashe Lustig is forced to give up his son to be raised in his brother-in-law’s family because, according to old traditions, it is forbidden for children to grow up in a household without a mother. When one day the Rabbi offers him the chance to take his son home for a week, Menashe must get to work: he has to master both his unstructured daily life and parental responsibilities while searching for a wife. MENASHE is a subtle yet highly emotional comedy, which depicts the peculiar reality of an insular world in the centre of New York with an almost documentary approach.