Snow In August

Eric Mink
NY Daily News, August 10, 2001

‘Snow in August’ has Remarkable Depth

“Snow in August” is not your typical offering from Showtime Pictures for All Ages. Relationships are at the heart of “Snow in August,” and this very fine film is certainly appropriate for children to watch, especially with adults present.

The movie is an ambitious mixture of dramatic realism, morality tale and mystical fable set in a poor working-class Brooklyn neighbourhood in 1947.

An unlikely friendship develops between young Michael Devlin (Peter Tambakis) the cleverest of his bunch of Irish-American buddies and Rabbi Judah Hirsch (Stephen Rea), who lives in exceedingly modest quarters below a deserted synagogue sanctuary in the neighbourhood. Once established, the relationship between Michael and the rabbi who fled Czechoslovakia during World War II proves to be a surprising, multi-layered deligh.”

Whether trading instruction in languages and their respective cultures or sharing the joys of jazz and baseball, the two learn from the other, become better people as a result, and come to depend on each other in unique was as the story builds to its fanciful, magical climax.”

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
spiritualityandpractice.com

Film Review
Snow in August

Directed by Richard Friedenberg
Showtime 01/02 DVD/VHS Feature Film
Not Rated

Eleven-year-old Michael (Peter Tambakis) is a fatherless Irish Catholic living in Brooklyn with his mother (Lolita Davidovich) in 1947. On an unfortunate day, he witnesses the beating of a Jewish candy storeowner by Frankie McCarthy (Adam MacDonald), leader of a gang of anti-Semitic toughs. Even though the victim falls into a coma, Michael is afraid to rat on Frankie.

As this weighs on his conscience, he meets Rabbi Judah Hirsch (Stephen Rea), a lonely refugee from Prague who hires him to become a “shabbos goy” — turning on the lights and gas stove in his room during the Sabbath. They become friends with Michael teaching him English and baseball while the good rabbi helps him learn Yiddish and the Kabbalah.

Richard Friedenberg directs this enchanting drama based on a novel by Pete Hamill. One of the many interesting developments in the unfolding relationship between Michael and Rabbi Hirsch is their avid interest in the career of Jackie Robinson, the outsider struggling to break the color barrier in major league baseball as he faces the racism of his opponents and teammates. Sadly, the same hatred that took away his wife in Nazi Europe eventually overtakes Rabbi Hirsch and even touches Michael’s mother.

The finale of magical realism has this angry and courageous eleven-year-old calling forth a golem, a powerful creature made from mud by someone pure of heart who knows the secret name of God. Those familiar with the fictional works of Isaac Bashevis Singer will recognize this monster and his role in Jewish folklore. Snow in August not only celebrates the virtues of friendship but also lionizes the spiritual worth of learning.