One of Us

A powerful and personal portrait of ostracism from a community. The documentary itself is a standard format but it's what it reveals about the inner workings of a defensive an insular group that is so affecting. No matter the reason or history I can't agree with how Ety was treated by those she used to belong to.

This documentary made me furious! And incredibly sad that in this day and age the men of this religion are so protected and the women are just incubators.

Disturbing and harrowing, especially the complete failure to address child sexual abuse.

"One of Us" is a documentary about some folks who have become disenchanted with the Hessidic Jewish community...a group in which blind obedience is expected. For example, one lady was horribly abused by her Hessidic husband...but the community has banded together to fight her in her attempt to retain custody of her kids. Another was raped at a Hessidic camp as a child...and left because the community refused to take any action and the pedophile is still apparently in this position! Another discontended man is shown...a man who had to literally walk away from his wife and kids because he was not willing to blindly follow the group's every requirement...such as not reading books, using the internet or having anything else to do with the outside world. The way the community work together to suppress these folks and disempower them is frightening...especially since local government (New York City) seems unwilling to deal with the physical and sexual abuse and the abuse of custody laws. Overall, a very sad and depressing documentary that should be seen...as it shows a side of America that seems, well, un-American.

Firstly, this documentary had excellent music in it... I grew up in a Pentecostal Christian Church which is kind of the equivalent of Hasidism. I know EXACTLY what these people are going through and their stories need to be told. This documentary captures the lack of humanity when an insulated community isolates people who break their rules.

Hasidic Judaism is an unknown topic to a lot of people so it was pretty informative for me. We see how ridiculously backwards these guys' lives are in one of the most modern cities in the world.

It's an interesting documentary about 3 brave people who decided to walk away from the Hasidic Jewish community and talk about how they are struggling with the "outside" life.