Olympic Dreams at Indiewire @ Hulu As the 2012 Summer Olympics begin, pitting the best of the best against one another, <i>Indiewire</i>'s latest curated <a href="http://www.hulu.com/documentaries" target="_blank">Documentaries page for Hulu</a> explores the dreams of hopeful athletes around the world, whether they'll ever ultimately have a shot at winning the gold or not. Watch all these sports docs for free now! Boxing has been an Olympic sport since the 1904 Summer games. Jason Hutt's <a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/95978" target="_blank">"Orthodox Stance"</a> profiles 24-year-old Russian immigrant Dmitriy Salita, a professional boxer and devoutly religious Orthodox Jew. Putting the lie to jokes about the absence of Jewish pro athletes, Hutt follows the fighter over many years, as he prepares for his first professional title and balances training with...
- 7/29/2012
- by Basil Tsiokos
- Indiewire
Rosh Hashanah--the Jewish New Year--falls this week, so it's fitting that indieWIRE-curated selections on Hulu's Documentaries page offer a series of portraits of Jewish lives in the past and the present. An example of the diversity in modern Jewish identity is on display in Jason Hutt's "Orthodox Stance." The documentary profiles 24-year-old Russian immigrant Dmitriy Salita, a professional boxer and devoutly religious Orthodox Jew. Putting the lie to jokes about ...
- 9/29/2011
- Indiewire
Orthodox Stance
Oxbow Lake Films
As is the case with so many recent documentaries, "Orthodox Stance" deals with a subject that, while it might have made for an intriguing segment on a television newsmagazine show, doesn't sustain itself over the course of a feature-length film.
This portrait of a professional boxer who also happens to be an Orthodox Jew has its interesting and evocative moments but lacks the compelling aspects necessary to make it stand out in the current theatrical glut. It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Cinema Village before expanding to other cities.
The filmmaker, Jason Hutt, tracked the career of Dmitriy Salita -- a Russian immigrant living in Brooklyn -- for several years. A likable and clearly religiously devout young man, Salita achieved significant success as a junior welterweight in the ring, and his personal story received enough media attention to garner him an invitation to a Hanukkah party at the White House.
The central dramatic element of the film is naturally the baby-faced Salita's efforts to reconcile his professional career with his religious observances. Thus, he refuses to fight on the Sabbath; he takes time out from his training to study the Torah; his solicitous manager cooks him kosher meals in his hotel rooms; and he's none too thrilled when one of his sponsors turns out to be a beer company.
That aspect aside, the film is a fairly standard observational depiction of a struggling fighter's life, culminating of course in a dramatic professional title bout and a knockout victory. Of course, it's not every fighter who's introduced to the crowd by Matisyahu, a reggae-singing Hasidic rapper.
As is the case with so many recent documentaries, "Orthodox Stance" deals with a subject that, while it might have made for an intriguing segment on a television newsmagazine show, doesn't sustain itself over the course of a feature-length film.
This portrait of a professional boxer who also happens to be an Orthodox Jew has its interesting and evocative moments but lacks the compelling aspects necessary to make it stand out in the current theatrical glut. It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Cinema Village before expanding to other cities.
The filmmaker, Jason Hutt, tracked the career of Dmitriy Salita -- a Russian immigrant living in Brooklyn -- for several years. A likable and clearly religiously devout young man, Salita achieved significant success as a junior welterweight in the ring, and his personal story received enough media attention to garner him an invitation to a Hanukkah party at the White House.
The central dramatic element of the film is naturally the baby-faced Salita's efforts to reconcile his professional career with his religious observances. Thus, he refuses to fight on the Sabbath; he takes time out from his training to study the Torah; his solicitous manager cooks him kosher meals in his hotel rooms; and he's none too thrilled when one of his sponsors turns out to be a beer company.
That aspect aside, the film is a fairly standard observational depiction of a struggling fighter's life, culminating of course in a dramatic professional title bout and a knockout victory. Of course, it's not every fighter who's introduced to the crowd by Matisyahu, a reggae-singing Hasidic rapper.
- 2/12/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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