The Quarrel

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The Quarrel ★★½ 1993

Chaim Kovler is a New York poet visiting Montreal in 1948. In a park he notices a group of Orthodox Jews and discovers one is his childhood friend Hersh. Fifteen years earlier their friendship broke over Chaim's decision to give up the religious life for his writing. Having lost their families to the Holocaust in Poland, both men have immigrated to new lives in North America. They immediately pick up their quarrel over religious faith and its value, particularly in light of the Holocaust. The two characters serve too much as careful ideologues to be compelling and the story turns cloyingly sentimental. Based on a short story by Yiddish writer Chaim Grade. 88m/C VHS, DVD . CA Saul Rubinek, R.H. Thomson, Arthur Grosser; D: Eli Cohen; W: David Brandes; M: William Goldstein.

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