The Chosen
1981 · United States · 108 min
- Director
- Jeremy Kagan
- Screenplay
- Chaim Potok
- Producer
- Ely Landau
- Music
- Elmer Bernstein
- Cinematography
- Arthur J. Ornitz
- Based on
- The Chosen
Awards: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
What the critics say
77 % Rotten Tomatoes positive reviewsCast
What it is about
In Brooklyn during the final stretch of the Second World War, Reuven Malter, a teenager from a modern Orthodox Jewish family, meets Danny Saunders, son of a Hasidic community leader, after an incident at a baseball game between their schools. Despite their differences, the two boys form a friendship built on intellectual passion and on the expectations their families place on them.
How it was made
Jeremy Kagan directed this adaptation of Chaim Potok's bestselling 1967 novel, and the author also wrote the screenplay. Elmer Bernstein composed the score and Arthur Ornitz shot the film. Kagan recalled that he could not find anyone from the most orthodox Hasidic groups to play the boys, and that some of those groups even placed notices in Yiddish newspapers urging people not to take part in the film.
Reception and legacy
The film won the Grand Prix of the Americas at the 1981 Montreal World Film Festival, and Rod Steiger took the best actor prize there. The National Board of Review named it one of the ten most outstanding films of the year. Variety called it a first-rate adaptation, and Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised its atmosphere while noting that it lacks dramatic excitement.
Stills
Trailer
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Trivia
No Hasidic actors
Kagan could not find actors from the most orthodox Hasidic groups to play the young leads.
Literary origin
The film is based on Chaim Potok's novel of the same name, published in 1967, which was a bestseller before reaching the screen.
Original Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.