The Great Sadness of Zohara

Format:

Video

Contributor:

Menkes, Nina, filmmaker.

Arbelos (Firm), publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jewish women--Drama.

Jewish women.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (40 min.)

Distribution:

New York, N.Y. Grasshopper Film

Place of Publication:

Los Angeles Arbelos Films 2023

Summary:

Alienated from her Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem, a young woman opens to the world of the spirit. Surrounded by dark sounds of the 'Other Side', she is drawn into remote and increasingly desolate regions of Arab lands. Her journey, like a mystical quest through her own inner landscapes, culminates in her return to Jerusalem. There, indelibly marked, she confronts her deeper loneliness and devastating sense of exile. Zohara's quest follows the stages of separation, initiation and return which Joseph Campbell made famous, but differs enough from the traditional model that the social and psychological significance of the journey is substantially altered. It involves no helpers, no perilous tasks, no union with the opposite sex and no reconciliation with father and mother figures. Furthermore, her return is not clearly victorious. As Annis Pratt found in her study of original works by women, a female protagonist whose quest results in rebirth or transformation has difficulty re-entering society, "she is met upon her ascent...with a forceful backlash, an attempt to dwarf her personality and reaccommodate her to secondary status"

Credits:

Nina Menkes, filmmaker

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from title screen

OCLC:

1402188235

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license