Film and Felt

Lacking a notable heartbeat, Jason Hutt’s Orthodox Stance is a dull, by-the-numbers documentary that feels significantly longer than its 82-minute run-time. The film chronicles the delicate balancing act of Brooklyn-based Russian immigrant Dmitriy Salita, a hotshot welterweight boxer who also happens to be devoutly Orthodox. Such a topic could be oddly inspiring—a young man who adores knocking people senseless, as long as it’s not on Shabbat, all while keeping his congregation happy—but Hutt’s shoddy editing and listless pacing keep the audience regrettably detached from the proceedings. Orthodox Stance sloppily dances from the ring to the gym, from the synagogue to the home (occasionally); this prevents the film from establishing any sort of rhythm. Not to mention the technical deficiencies; the sound recording is so poor that Hutt often resorts to subtitles to make sure we’re following the dialogue.

Far too little time is spent on the most interesting element at work here; is boxing truly consistent with Orthodox beliefs? I’m confident many viewers who know little about intense Judaism would instinctively think that the union is a natural conflict of interest. Yet aside from a question-and-answer session in Synagogue (and making clear that boxing is a no-no on Friday nights), Hutt appears content to assume that we’ll all take this odd marriage for granted. And oddly, Orthodox Stance spends most of its time showing Dmitryi’s life in stages. There’s the fighting and training that feels straight out of Million Dollar Baby, the tense contract negotiations and business dealings; the Orthodox support structure in his life. But there’s no fluidity to any of it. One moment, Dmitryi’s manager and adviser Israel is cooking gefitle fish in a hotel room to ensure a kosher lifestyle away from home; the next, Dmitryi is meditating on his next career move…right before an intense session at the gym. Yet somehow his family life is almost completely ignored. It’s a shame, as Dmitryi seems like an interesting, ambitious fellow, and I’m sure there’s lots in his background and decision to box that would have translated well to film. As put forth, though, Orthodox Stance is little more than an occasionally interesting messy bore.

RATING: con