Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness (2012)

Original title

Sholem Aleichem: Laughing In The Darkness

Directed by

Joseph Dorman

Genre

documentary, history

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 53m

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 5 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary tells the story of Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, who created the stories that inspired Fiddler on the Roof. It uses old photos, film clips, and scholars to show his life and the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe and New York that shaped his work.

informativenostalgicreflectivebiographicalhistoricalpoignantscholarlydocumentary-style

What happens

Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness is an American biographical documentary film about Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, who is best known for his stories about Tevye the Dairyman, the basis for the musical Fiddler on the Roof. The film uses historical photographs, film, and audio, as well as analysis by scholars and excerpts from his work read in Yiddish, to document the writer's life and the shtetl and Lower East Side lifestyles that influenced him. It was released on 8 July 2011 to positive reviews, and is one of only a small number of works with a 100% rating at the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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