City of Joel

2018
1h 30m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

114

YOUR RATING

Play trailer1:26

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2 Photos

Documentary

"City of Joel" is a documentary - with unprecedented access - to a 1.1 square mile shtetl in the suburbs that is home to 22,000 members of one of the most insular and orthodox Hasidic sects.... Read all"City of Joel" is a documentary - with unprecedented access - to a 1.1 square mile shtetl in the suburbs that is home to 22,000 members of one of the most insular and orthodox Hasidic sects. We follow the battles they are waging to survive. Just 50 miles north of New York City, t... Read all"City of Joel" is a documentary - with unprecedented access - to a 1.1 square mile shtetl in the suburbs that is home to 22,000 members of one of the most insular and orthodox Hasidic sects. We follow the battles they are waging to survive. Just 50 miles north of New York City, the Satmar sect has built Kiryas Joel as a religious haven where they can be fruitful, mult... Read all

Director
- Jesse Sweet
Writer
- Federico Rosenzvit

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

114

YOUR RATING

Director
- Jesse Sweet
Writer
- Federico Rosenzvit

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 nominations

Videos1

Trailer 1:26

City of Joel

Photos

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Review

Featured review

5/10

Fundamentally Spiritual Warfare Depicted As Parochialism

The film depicts competing Jewish and "Christian" cultures--living side-by-side--seeking coexistence as American citizens. What is undeniably evident over time, is that neither culture wishes to 'integrate' with the other, despite sharing access to local geophysical, government, social, financial, spiritual, and economic resources. The Director's manipulation of cultural tensions absent spiritual insights leaves this viewer doubting the value of chicken soup for a winter cold.