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from page 104

So Lurie decided to write the
Jewish character actor a role he
couldn't refuse. "I thought, what
role is Kevin never offered? That's
easy: president of the United
States," says Lurie, who penned the
screenplay over Thanksgiving
weekend in 1997 and finished it in
time to give Pollak at the Sunday
poker game. The next day, the
actor called him: "I'm in," he said.
Lurie set the film in one loca-
tion to avoid excessive insurance
costs. He made his fictional presi-
dent Jewish because "I wanted to
create an obstacle for him drop-
ping the bomb on an Arabic
country. I thought that a Jewish
president would have to think
extra hard about that, because of
the likely accusations of racism."
Whether a viewer thinks the
character is a villain or a hero
depends on one's political point of
view, he adds.
Politics is a natural subject for
Lurie, who says his family tree
includes Rashi, Sigmund Freud
and Karl Marx. His father, Ranan
Lurie, the famed Israeh political
cartoonist, often entertained
Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres
at the family's Herzliya home.
When Ranan secured a job
with Life magazine in 1966, he
moved the family to Canada and
ultimately to Greenwich, Conn.,
where young Rod, a film buffi
used his fists to respond to stu-
dents' anti-Semitism.
Rod Lurie studied Middle
Eastern politics at West Point, then
served as a combat arms officer for
four years before leaving his "sti-
fling, uncreative" U.S. military job
to become a film critic. He says he
conned his way into writing his first
piece for Los Angeles magazine in
1989: "I said I could get the inside
scoop on the killer of [actress]
Rebecca Schaeffer, though the truth
was I didn't have a clue," he recalls.
Now that Lurie is a writer-direc-
tor and no longer the most hated
man in Hollywood, is he remorse-
ful about some of his nastier
reviews? "I don't think I was a good
critic in the least," he admits,
adding that he used to be "really
jealous" of the insights offered by
other reviewers. "I attacked some
people in ways that were way too
personal, and I did it without
thinking twice."

❑

JAUNDICED LENS

from page 105

ing intimacy and obligates a husband
to pleasure his wife, not only for pro-
creation. A "brilliant scholar" like
Meir would know this. And while a
couple may divorce after 10 years of
childlessness, this is never done —
certainly not at the directive of a
father-in-law/rabbi.
The daily prayer men recite for not
being created female is not intended
to be sexist. It signifies man's gratitude
for being obligated to perform con-
crete acts of observance (mitzvot),
from which women, whom the Torah
considers spiritually superior, are
exempt.
The mikva scenes depict preparato-
ry ritual as primitive and humiliating;
the mother grills her barren daughter
with patronizing, accusatory questions
and shoves her head beneath the water.
At my mikva there is dignity, privacy
and the gift of spiritual renewal.
The lives of Gitai's haredim, uni-
formly and unrelentingly oppressive,
strain credibility. Are there no loving,
compassionate fathers? No noble
husbands? No fulfilled wives? No
men or women rejoicing in religious
observance? Are we to believe that
haredi men don't seek infertility
treatment? (They do.) That domestic
violence is sanctioned? (It is not.)
That all haredi men regard women as
objects, as baby machines? That
haredi couples procreate to outnum-
ber the secular population?
Chasidic, fervently Orthodox and
Modern Orthodox young men are
taught, along with the laws of family
purity, to treat their wives with love
and dignity, with respect and gentle-
ness. Sadly, some men fall short; some
abuse their wives. But Gitai misinforms
in suggesting that the pursuit of the
sacred leads to and justifies this abuse.
There is nothing kadosh about the
subjugation or abuse of women, but
there is something abusive about
Kadosh. ❑

Kadosh opens at the Detroit Film
Theatre at the Detroit Institute
of Arts next weekend. Show
times are 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday
and Saturday, May 5-6, and 4
and 7 p.m. Sunday, May 7.
$5.50. (313) 833-3237. It
screens at Ann Arbor's Michigan
Theatre 6:45 p.m. Friday-
Tuesday, May 12-16, and 4:45
p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May
13-14. (734) 668-8463.