Review of Disobedience (2018) by The3Academysins — 08 May 2018

Disobedience portrays a world of secrets, lies, and very guarded people who live on a knife's edge of social consequences, but much like the main character played by Rachel Weisz, Disobedience struggles to find it's footing. While the main characters played by Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola are well acted, a lot of their actions are difficult to comprehend. Even with the complications that they are all best friends who are in love with each other, and that the Orthodox Jewish culture they belong to will not accept who they all are, I often found myself wondering why a character did this, or why a character would act treat another character this way, and so on and so forth. The sex scene in the middle of the movie is very gratuitous and distracting, and does nothing to further the story or develop the characters, or even show the audience how much the character's love each other.

Another big flaw Disobedience suffers from is pacing. I have watched slow movies. I have watched glacial movies. I have even enjoyed watching slow or glacial films. The pacing in Disobedience is nothing short of laborious, particularly in the second and third act. I constantly was checking my watch about an hour into the film, and two audience members got up and left halfway through the movie. This movie also DID NOT KNOW WHEN TO END. There were three scenes where it could have ended, but it just kept going. I could not leave the theater fast enough once it was over.

In spite of this, there are moments that truly shine, such as Weisz and McAdams' tender confession in the house of Weisz's father, and Nivola's stirring monologue at the climax of the film. In spite of it's flaws, there are some okay moments in the film, and it is quite a faithful portrayal of Orthodox Judaism.