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A Stranger Among Us | 1992 | PG-13 | - 1.5.5
Melanie Griffith is cast as a tough cop who has to move in with a community of New York Hasidic Jews in order to find out who killed one of their members. She soon becomes enamored with their traditional values and Ariel (Eric Thal), a gifted student who's primed to assume leadership of the community one day.
SEX/NUDITY 1 - One romantic kiss, but no nudity or sex.
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VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A cop is stabbed in the first scene, the shot is jerky enough that you don't really see the stabbing, but you see the knife and then the cop in an ambulance. We see a murdered body, after the fact. A young hasid is found murdered in his jewelry store storeroom. Gunshots and a hoodlum dying in a car after it crashes through a store front.
LANGUAGE 5 - The full gamut of foul language, including the F-word, comes from Griffith in the early scenes.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Religious beliefs, the strength of community, falling in love and following one's heart vs. maintaining traditional values.
MESSAGE - The Hasidim are represented as an ideal traditional society which has found the path to inner-peace. Closer examination reveals their communal family values as patriarchal authoritarianism.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.
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We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.
