A Stranger Among Us
| A Stranger Among Us | |
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Theatrical Release Poster
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| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by |
Steve Golin Howard Rosenman Sigurjón Sighvatsson |
| Written by | Robert J. Avrech |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Jerry Bock |
| Cinematography | Andrzej Bartkowiak |
| Edited by | Andrew Mondshein |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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109 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $33,000,000 |
| Box office | $12,282,994 |
A Stranger Among Us is a 1992 film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Melanie Griffith. It tells the story of an undercover police officer's experiences in a Hasidic community. It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.
It is often cited as one of Lumet's two failures of the 1990s, the other being Guilty as Sin (1993). Despite the poor reviews suffered by both these films, Lumet received the 1993 D. W. Griffith Award of the Directors Guild of America. The film was also the first credited role for actor James Gandolfini.
Some aspects of the plot recall the 1977 murder of diamond dealer Pinchos Jaroslawicz. Emily Eden (Griffith), a hardened New York City homicide detective, goes undercover to investigate the murder of a Hasidic diamond-cutter. To do so, she lives with the family of the Hasidic rebbe (Lee Richardson), an elderly Holocaust survivor who is revered for his wisdom and compassion toward his fellow Jews. He says to her, "You and I have something in common: We are both intimately familiar with evil. It does something to your soul."
While living with the rebbe's family, she takes a liking to his son, Ariel (Eric Thal), a young man who works as a diamond-cutter but teaches in the yeshiva and is expected to follow his father as the next rebbe. In addition to keeping all 613 Mitzvot, he is waiting for his intended, or basherte, the daughter of a Paris rebbe whom he has not yet actually met. They are the subjects of an arranged marriage, but he believes that she is his soul mate, chosen by God. He is also studying the Kabbalah, which is regarded as rather daring for a man under 40. Its discussion of sexual intimacy is restrained but specific, as well as a metaphor for the relationship between Man and God.
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Wikipedia