A Stranger Among Us

Detective Emily Eden (Griffith), already chastised for using excessive force, is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a Hasidic jeweller and a fortune in diamonds; when, after finding his corpse in the ceiling of his own office, she concludes that he knew his killer, with the permission of the Rebbe she goes undercover in the Hasidic community. Cue culture clash, romantic yearnings for improbably sensitive Rebbe-to-be Ariel (Thal), and a steadily growing disenchantment with the harsh ways of her own Gentile world. All too obviously influenced by Witness, the film fails on all counts. The lackadaisical plotting is frequently implausible, and the depiction of Hasidic warmth and integrity is not only embarrassingly rose-tinted but objectionable in its implied endorsement of the archaically subservient position of women.