The Worst Film Ever

Dreadfully Boring

Am I Missing Something?

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

I love this movie; they do a good job integrating music with the action scenes. The music is very good in the movie. This movie is far from boring. It keeps you captivated. It is a good family movie about love., understanding, and acceptable; It is also about forgiveness and letting go. One can learn alot from this movie. The performances were great, especially the father, he is superb in this movie. Great cast and great film.

Its virtue - it works at each age. for children - to discover the universe of a shtetl. for young man - for understand the premises of Shoah. for adult - to compare the artistic virtues and the admirable humor. for an old viewer - for say, again and again, "this is the truth/reality/life" but, in same measure ,for remind than "on the other hand", life is magnificent. for a long time, at early age, Topol was my hero. not only for performance - great and impressive. but for the science to birth a form of magic who gives the profound sense of life. so, fascinating. like the best cure for every day sickness.

I often wondered what it was like in the old country Russia/Poland one hundred plus years ago? What was the daily riggers of life for my Grandfather and his Father's before him? How did they survive? Their livelihoods, customs, down time?? How they lived or survived the rugged lifestyle with out the modern conveniences? Not to mention the racial tensions created by the local regimes of that time, mainly "antisemitism"? My Grandmother remembers the harsh winters in Lodz. My other Grandmother would describe the horrible senseless acts of a fearful group of individuals called the Pogroms. These tormentors would ride into the Jewish section on horseback with saber in hand and would slice the heads off the locals including woman and children. Just a small sample of the horrific acts by the government based group to annihilate the Jews of Europe. Despite the harshness of the living conditions, writer Sholom Aleichem presents the story of Tevya the Milkman and his family somewhere in the Ukraine at the turn of the twentieth century. Personally I saw this play performed for the first time at sleep away camp. Then I saw a professional production starring Hershel Bernardi as Tevya. My ex-Brother-In-Law played Tevya in his college production and the story is always captivating with song and dialogue. The film doesn't disappoint either as Topol plays a struggling milkman who tells his audience in a philosophical way his ideas on life as he looks toward the sky to ask G-d why things are? Tradition is most important to Tevya with out an explanation as to why? But because it's a tradition. Tevya has a wife of 25 years Golde (Norma Crane) does a capable job as the matriarch who cooks, cleans and has the Sabbath meal prepared unconditionally. They have five daughters but this story focuses on the three oldest and their love interests. First there's Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris).This was at a time when it was customary in Jewish law to have an arranged marriage done my a Matchmaker (Molly Picon)Yente. Grey,middle aged Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann)is looking for a second wife and Tzeitel fills the requirements under strong suggestion to the austere Tevya. Meanwhile Tzeitel is secretly meeting love interest Motel the tailor(Leonard Frey) and they want to be married but timid Motel has to tell Tevya that despite his hopes of a rich in-law, Motel and Tzeitel have a mutual love for each other and pay no heed to traditions. One of my personal favorite songs is Wonder of Wonders performed by Leonard Frey as his marriage will be a reality with a concocted dream by Tevya to pacify Wolf and Golde. The dream sketch was cleverly done in black and white. The second daughter Hodel (Michele Marsh) falls for a wondering radical Perchick (Paul Michael Glazer) who wants to go to Moscow and start a Marxist revolution against the Czar. Our third front or daughter is the Ginger haired Chava (Neva Small), who is an avid reader and meets a gentile boy who she eventually falls in love and marries against the wished of her parents as Tevya professed that his daughter is dead to him. Powerful scene in any production of the play. The songs are so familiar and the story on paper, serious in nature is still pleasant to watch. Our character do sprinkle a bit of humor despite the tense political climate brewing in Czarist Russia. Note Norma Crane who played Golde was in bad health during the film yet her performance was a adequate.The kind of play you can get lost in as you see your Jewish ancestry played out literally. Other cultures would ask what Judaism entails? I say watch this play and you'll get quite an education about Diaspora. How millions of Jews Emigrated to the United States because of racial problems and changing governments which prohibited certain religions. You'll enjoy the story and learn a few things about the Chosen People.

"A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask, 'Why do we stay up there if it's so dangerous?' Well, we stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: tradition!" That quote sums up the genius of this film. From an artistic standpoint, there were some plot elements and character developments I didn't think were totally needed. They do however drive the story, which seemed to be their purpose, so I can accept them. The urge to just walk away almost got me a couple of times. But, in the end, this is an excellent character study.