My Father My Lord

I was honestly quite surprised by how much I was effected by "My Father My Lord," perhaps one of the smallest movies I've seen in a while. David Volach' directorial debut is a quiet affective family drama, centering around a family of three where religion is the central focus. Although it in the end, it is the message that religion should not be the most important thing with any family. We follow the story through the eye of Menaham, a young boy who lives under the stern religious following his his Rabbi father. His father does love him, but in this lifestyle, it is religious practice which must come first. A scene where Menaham's mother instructs him to go into the living room to speak to his father is very telling in that his father never says a word to him as he reads his religious templates. The film moves along its very thin 72 minutes almost plotless, until a trip to the Dead Sea culminates in a tragic accident. 

This is the debut feature of Volach, who actually picked up the audience award at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, which honestly surprises me. This is a film not for every ones taste-very simple story, if having a story at all, and reminiscent of many of the realist films of decades ago. I am mildly reminded of Apu in "Pather Panchali," simply because of the following of this young boy. Volach opens our eyes-and the eye of Menaham as well-through many simple beautiful scenes-included Menaham discovering an old woman, recently dead, being loaded into an ambulance. Her faithful dog whimpers as he jumps in behind her. It also helps that the film is beautifully shot and scored, creating quite a hypnotic atmosphere, especially during the final scenes at the Dead Sea, where suspense quickly builds. I walked in knowing that there was to be a rather somber ending, but I could not expect how deeply I was able to become invested in these characters in only a little over an hour. "My Father My Lord" is a very effective moral drama, slowly developing its characters and creating a universe all of its own.

Final Rating-

***1/2 of ****