The Quarrel

AWARDS

FIRST PRIZE JURY AWARD, BEST FEATURE FILM Santa Barbara International Film Festival
SPECIAL JURY AWARD Houston Film Festival
CRYSTAL HEART AWARD Heartland Film Festival
CHRIS AWARD Columbus International Film and Video Festival
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY, BEST DIRECTOR NOMINATIONS Genie Awards (Canadian Academy Awards)
GOLD ANGEL AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE FILM Excellence in Media/ Angel Awards

SELECTED SCREENINGS

Light in the Dark Spiritual Film Festival (2006)
Jewish Film Festival, Dallas (2005)

"The Quarrel brings to the screen one of the most powerful works of modern literature - a haunting story by Yiddish writer Chaim Grade that was written shortly after the Second World War. Two survivors of the Holocaust, accidentally reunited in a park in Montreal in 1948, take up their argument just where they left it nine years earlier: one of the men is a pious Hasid who runs a yeshiva for Jewish orphans, the other a secular writer who has long since lost his religious faith. The war deprived them of everything, including all the members of their families; yet, instead of deadening their appetite for life, the losses they suffered and the brutalities they witnessed have only reinforced the Orthodox Jew's trust in God and the secular skeptic's trust in himself.

As they spend the day together, the two men alternately cling together to recall their common past, and lock horns in debate over their opposing views of God and the world. For them and for the audience, the concentrated drama of their encounter passes too quickly. "

- Ruth Wisse, Chair in Yiddish Literature, Harvard University

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

"... an immensely emotional work. Touchingly and even viscerally acted by Saul Rubinek and R.H. Thomson, the production is exceptionally shaded and orchestrated by Israeli director Eli Cohen... the talk in the well-crafted script by co-producer David Brandes is riveting... This is television so mature and so devoid of false sentiment, the achievement is dumbfounding."
- Ray Loynd, Los Angeles Times

"I have never seen a movie so intellectually invigorating... Brilliantly written and full of quotable moments... In the quarrel between these two men I heard an echo of my own internal quarrel, the secret dialogue every Christian would confess to if he were honest with himself."
- Rev. Greg Koukl, Author, Talk Radio host, Christian Apologist

"There is no question that The Quarrel is the most powerful, cinematically effective, intellectually exciting and personally moving portrayal on the screen of the conflict within the modern soul between tradition and change. I cannot recall a movie that was at once so wrenching and touching in the viewing yet left me feeling so alive and inspired afterward." - Rabbi Irving Greenberg, CLAL

"This is one of the most sensitive, beautiful and enthralling movies I have ever seen. The beauty is not in the surroundings, but in the look we get into the souls of two men... if you thought that after seeing Europa, Europa you had been privileged to view one of the great movies of the last 30 years, you will feel the same about this movie when you wipe the tears from your eyes as the lights go up."
- Ed Koch, Koch at the Movies

“Excellent...a war of the spirit on a battleground of ideas”
-Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times

"... bursting with provocative ideas and complex emotions... The Quarrel is very likely the best fiction film on a Jewish theme in the postwar era."
- Stanley Feingold, Congress Monthly

"One of the year's most challenging, intelligent and provocative films that touches the soul and heart." - Michael Medved, Sneak Previews

PURCHASE DVD

HOME USE ONLY
$36.00 plus shipping
Home Use Only DVD (Not for Classroom/Institutional Use)

Does not include Public Performance Rights
Home Use Policy (pdf)

INSTITUTIONAL USE

$72.00 plus shipping
Classroom/Institutional Use Only DVD

Does not include Public Performance Rights
Institutional Use Policy (pdf)

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The National Center For Jewish Film
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