Thread by @Delafina777

Just watched The Golem, a movie by the guys who did JeruZalem, on Amazon Prime. The movies are very, very different. JeruZalem was an interesting but shlocky B horror movie. The Golem feels more like The VVitch.

I mean, it's still not going to win any Oscars, but it's a richly textured historical horror film about a Jewish community in 17th-century Lithuania, and the specificity gives it a certain dignity despite exploding heads and a shofar fountaining blood.

More than that, the main character is a female Kabbalist whose immediate response to everything is to take it straight to 11. But, like, she's not necessarily wrong.

When the Christians show up, in the middle of a wedding because of COURSE they do, murder the groom, and then demand that the Jews heal the ringleader's daughter from the plague, because the Jews must be wizards since they don't have the plague...

...Hanna, the main character, goes straight to "Screw this, let's make a golem." All the men are like, no, we must pray really hard and try to heal the girl and maybe the Christians will leave us alone and Hanna is like um do y'all know any Jewish history at all or

And the dudes are all Kabbalah is dangerous and you shouldn't be meddling in it and Hanna's like cool but meanwhile meet my golem, he can make people's heads explode

and they're like nooooooooo this is evil but she's like hey dude who's been murdering us meet my golem, get out or he'll make your head explode and the wedding shooter guy is like um yeah okay maybe I will take my daughter and leave

also there is a LOT of people taking baths and mikvah-ing and, y'know, not getting the plague because hygiene (and isolation but also probably bathing) and I am so here for a movie that likes a good bath

and everyone's like noooooo we must end the golem and Hanna's like look at my gorgeous badass Kabbalah diagrams your argument is invalid also don't ever talk to me or my statue son again

and I mean this is a movie about Jews in medieval-ish Lithuania so OF COURSE it doesn't have a happy ending, and that's not even a spoiler, that's just obvious

also violence begets violence or some shit

anyway, thank you for reading my review go see this movie