Rating: 
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: "The Quarrel" is one of the most thought-provoking and entertaining films I've experienced. While the setting is simple, the dialogue is outstanding. For those who believe in God and those who don't, it is certainly a challenging dialogue for either viewpoint. I am a Christian and saw it with my Jewish friend and we were both stunned and thrilled with the whole film. I have so insufficiently recovered from the experience that I searched for the film here at Amazon, 8 years after seeing it in the theater. I feel it would be an excellent film for a philosophy or religious studies course. Get it, watch it, and share it with your friends.
Rating:
Summary: Like finding a Diamond
Review: I am the son of Holocaust survivors and remember seeing this movie in the theater with my father. Later, I returned see it with an Armenian businessman friend of mine, a man who had lived in Africa and Europe. All three of us thought it was great. I could not remember the title and have been wanting to buy it for the last 2 years, until I found the name today at a Jewish film website and ordered it on Amazon about 15 minutes ago.This movie was as if someone took all the conflicting arguments in my head and soul, ripped them out, and put them on the Big Screen for all the world to see. Yes, as one reviewer said, it is a bit overblown, pedantic, but..the people portrayed were small town/city Europeans living in a sheltered Yeshiva (Jewish religious school) world until the wider world shocked their existance and social order with great force in 1939. I don't think the characters could have been portrayed much more accurately. False beards ? Maybe, but not false emotions.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't Connect
Review: I have to admit, this movie didn't move me as much as I thought it would from all the hype. There were really two problems that I can put my finger on. 1) I found I just could not connect with the main characters. Whether this was due to slightly wooden performances, extremely fake looking beards, a failing in the script or a combination of all three I can't say. 2) The script was overly verbose at times, and I found my attention waning. This movie is probably better rented than purchased, as I can see wanting to see it once but doubt many people would want to sit through it again and again.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful portrait of tension between Orthodox vs. Secular
Review: I watched this movie and immediately fell in love with it. It's a true piece of art, and it addresses the tension between the secular and the orthodox worlds with incredibly beautiful feelings and poetry. A lovely masterpiece that cannot be missed by anyone who is interested in this theme, regardless of what your personal belief and/or affiliation are. I strongly recommend that you watch it if that's a theme that is genuinely interesting to you.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful portrait of tension between Orthodox vs. Secular
Review: I watched this movie and immediately fell in love with it. It's a true piece of art, and it addresses the tension between the secular and the orthodox worlds with incredibly beautiful feelings and poetry. A lovely masterpiece that cannot be missed by anyone who is interested in this theme, regardless of what your personal belief and/or affiliation are. I strongly recommend that you watch it if that's a theme that is genuinely interesting to you.
Rating:
Summary: RECONCILIATION
Review: It is 1948. World War II has been over for three years and distinquished author and poet,Chaim has come to Montreal for a reading. His blissful sleep is broken by the harsh ring of a phone. On the other end, his one night stand, requests that he return her necklace. How annoying when you want to sleep but he acquieces to her request to meet her in the park but first he must have breakfast. What a beautiful day and such a bountiful breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. Just as he begins to dig in he realizes that it is Rosh Hashana. A man outside of the restaurant stares at him. Chaim's appetite goes away and before long he reluctantly finds himself in a minyan. After prayers he escapes to the park where he encounters him. His enemy, his friend has come to life before him. The two had thought that the other had perished in the Holocaust as had their families. They look at each other, keep silence and then a spew of emotion unleashes as the two clash about the meaning of life and God after that experience. The Quarrel takes up the age old question of God's justice or lack there of that plaqued Job and other humans since the dawn of time. Hersh stands firmly in his fundamentalist faith. Chaim insists on the goodness of humanity. Both men have become extremists as they attempt to give some meaning to their lives after being in the Holocaust. Hidden within their psyches are betrayals, hypocrisy and plain stubbornness that the two were unable or unwilling to share. This brief moment in the park is an opportunity for reconciliation, if they choose to do so. A brilliant film such as this should be shown in every class room and home as we struggle with the notion of forgiveness, human failure, and religious faith. All of these questions emerge from the encounter of these two men who deep inside are filled with loneliness and grief. Rosh Hashana leaves open for them a new beggining in faith as it will for you.
Rating:
Summary: RECONCILIATION
Review: It is 1948. World War II has been over for three years and distinquished author and poet,Chaim has come to Montreal for a reading. His blissful sleep is broken by the harsh ring of a phone. On the other end, his one night stand, requests that he return her necklace. How annoying when you want to sleep but he acquieces to her request to meet her in the park but first he must have breakfast. What a beautiful day and such a bountiful breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. Just as he begins to dig in he realizes that it is Rosh Hashana. A man outside of the restaurant stares at him. Chaim's appetite goes away and before long he reluctantly finds himself in a minyan. After prayers he escapes to the park where he encounters him. His enemy, his friend has come to life before him. The two had thought that the other had perished in the Holocaust as had their families. They look at each other, keep silence and then a spew of emotion unleashes as the two clash about the meaning of life and God after that experience. The Quarrel takes up the age old question of God's justice or lack there of that plaqued Job and other humans since the dawn of time. Hersh stands firmly in his fundamentalist faith. Chaim insists on the goodness of humanity. Both men have become extremists as they attempt to give some meaning to their lives after being in the Holocaust. Hidden within their psyches are betrayals, hypocrisy and plain stubbornness that the two were unable or unwilling to share. This brief moment in the park is an opportunity for reconciliation, if they choose to do so. A brilliant film such as this should be shown in every class room and home as we struggle with the notion of forgiveness, human failure, and religious faith. All of these questions emerge from the encounter of these two men who deep inside are filled with loneliness and grief. Rosh Hashana leaves open for them a new beggining in faith as it will for you.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting simply riveting
Review: My family (wife and 15yr. old girl) were glued from start to finish. The story weaves it's path over and under many threads of life using the motif of secular/orthodox tension such as guilt/forgiveness, reason (as basis for good)/or God and His Words, youthful zeal/aged wisdom (remember the brash orthodox student?), self rigteousness/self sufficiency etc. A nice balance of gripping emotion as well as deep profoundness of thought.
Even though I was not a holocaust survivor I could relate to some degree with this movie as my best friend growing up was Jewish. He went on as good Jewish boys do and became a Geriatric Physician albeit liberal; and I an all out hedonistic pagan eventually distanced myself from him during the turbulent '60's. Since then I learned my bio father was German also I had become a Christian and quite devout. So I couldn't help but picture the two of us in a similar reunion as I was watching The Quarrel.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-intended, but deeply flawed
Review: None can fault the courage of the film's premise: in the aftermath of the Holocaust, one man lost his faith, and another found his faith to be a source of strength. Both believe passionately in the integrity of their response, and each finds the other's position deeply flawed and dishonest.
Alas, a film cannot stand on the strength of its premise alone. The writing is sometimes pedantic, and the dialogue stilted. The fundamentalist/Orthodox character, Herschel, seems to play his part as though anticipating the opportunity to deliver a punch line, and his fake beard and eyebrows contribute to that effect. For all the life experiences these men have supposedly had, little depth or complexity of character is in evidence, either in the writing or the actors' portrayals. Still, for those who are not familiar with these ossified positions, or who need to be exposed to them anew, the film, for all its faults, can serve as a springboard for discussion. If it motivates people of radically different beliefs to talk and try to find a place to stand together, it will have served a good purpose.
Rating:
Summary: "The Film of the Millennium"
Review: The Quarrel poignantly portrays humanity's struggle with faith in God. It depicts two sides of Judaism: the historical Judaism of faith in God and another Judaism that longs to move on from ancient traditions into a modern secular and humanistic world that denies the existence of God. The film expresses the conflict between religious conservative views and liberal atheistic humanism. We have chosen this film as the Resources for Life film of the millennium; for what could be more important that our search to understand God? As the Messiah once quoted, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." [Mark 12:29-30] This film will increase your passion and love for God.
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