The last of the great musicals from Hollywood, and one you would not expect to be all that popular: the trials and tribulations of the poor Jews of pre-revolutionary Russia.
Lesson: This movie is really filled with ethical and moral issues that can't be easily summarized. We see the anti-Semitic actions of the Czar being played out on the screen, without any discussion as to why they happened. But if anything, this movie shows how an ancient people struggle to survive in a modern world, pulled in one direction by their "traditions" and in another by the tremendous changes that are about to be unleashed by the fruits of the "Enlightenment", namely World War I and the Russian Revolution.
In the end, the great hope for these people, is to leave Russia and head to the USA, a country where Jews have prospered more so than in any country on earth.
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