downtown express
33
Hester Street Shot in black and white, which provides a documentary feel, and spoken almost entirely in Yiddish with sub-titles, Hester Street is a small, beautiful movie about a young Jewish immigrant woman’s struggles, compromises, gains, loses and eventual adjustment to New York and America at the end the 19th century. Written and directed by Joan Micklin Silva (who also directed Crossing Delancey about modern-day Jewish match-making and features the Essex Street pickle stand), the film is based on Abraham Cahan’s novel Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto published in 1896, the same year in which the film is set. Though Cahan’s novel focuses primarily on the arrival in New York and the assimilation and Americanization of Yekl who, in his fervor to leave the past behind, changes his name to Jake, Hester Street is really more concerned with Gitl, his wife, who is much more traditional and resistant to change despite her husband’s
Ninth Precict 321 E. 5th St. New York., NY 10003 212-477-7826 Community Affairs 212-477-7826 Crime Prevention 212-477-7805 Community Patrol 212-477-7808 212-477-7820
New York State Police Wards Island New York, NY 10035 917-492-7100
Troop A. Mounted Police 19 Varick St. New York, NY 212-334-0641
POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS Chelsea Reform P.O. BOX 1120 Old Chelsea Station New York, NY 10113-1 309 West 20th St., Basement New York, NY 10011
nagging insistence she give up her shawls, her head covering and Yiddish. Gitl is tenderly yet powerfully played by Carol Kane; having appeared in Carnal Knowledge, as well as Dog Day Afternoon and Annie Hall, she is probably best known
212-929-9188
Downtown Independent Democrats 125 Greene St., 5th fl. New York, NY 10012 sean.sweeneynyc@verizon.net
for her successful years on Broadway as Madame Morrible in Wicked. This is a low-budget film; its scenes on Ellis Island, though realistic and detailed, have not the size and scope Coppola could accomplish in similar scenes in The Godfather 2. But what Hester Street lacks in expense it makes up for in compassion, depth, subtlety and detail. The scenes of the streets on the Lower East Side, its shops, apartments, clothes, manners, and the penetrating study of the film’s characters make this a small epic, however contradictory that may be. Although Gitl is eventually abandoned by her husband, she is brave, strong, at times heroic as she realizes her own potential, and the adjustments she makes in the New World are inspiring, especially to women who will see her story to be as much about one woman’s true liberation from convention and stereotype as it is about freedom from the prejudice and ghettos of Poland.
League of Women Voters 4 West 43rd Street New York, NY 10016 212-725-3541 fax: 212-725-3443 lwvny@hotmail.com www.lwvnyc.org
Gay & Lesbian Independent Democrats Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Servies Center
New York City Independence Party
208 West 13th St. New York, NY 10011 212-620-7310 info@glid.org www.glid.org.
122 East 83rd Street New York, NY 10028 212-517-8333
Harry S. Truman Democratic Club 551 Grand St., Suite 1 New York, NY 10002 212-349-7140 fax: 212-387-8017 snackplay@aol.com
225 Broadway New York, NY 10007 212-962-1699
New York County Republican Committee
Sons of the Revolution 54 Pearl St. New York, NY 10004 212-425-1776 fax: 212-509-3467 www.sonsoftherevolution.org
Village lndependent Democrats
26 Perry St. New York, NY 10014 212-741-2994 villagedemocrats@aol.com www.villagedemocrats.com
Village Reform Democratic Club 505 Laguardia Place New York, NY 10012 212-995-VRDC fax: 212-995-VRDC cline-rs@interport.net
POST OFFICES Canal Street Station 350 Canal St. New York, NY 10013 212-925-3378
Chinatown Station 6 Doyers St. New York, NY 10038 212-349-8264
Church Street Station 90 Church St. New York, NY 10013 212-330-5313