A first-rate adaptation of the Chaim Potok novel of the same name, THE CHOSEN depicts the friendship of two young Jewish men of widely different beliefs, and their relationships with their fathers during the 1940s.
Two youths, the Hasidic Danny Saunders (Benson) and the Orthodox Reuven Malter (Miller) begin their friendship after Danny nearly blinds Reuven in a baseball game. To Reuven, who considers himself a typical American kid, Danny's Hasidic upbringing, complete with 19th-century attire and long side
curls, makes him seem as strange as a creature from space. Nevertheless, they grow closer until Danny's father, a forceful rabbi (Steiger) forbids his son to talk to Reuven because the boy's father (Schell) is a fervent Zionist.
Potent and simmering if sometimes a little overstated, THE CHOSEN manages to elicit a tolerable and appropriate performance from the generally emetic Benson. Steiger's work is mixed, undeniably powerful yet sometimes hammy in the way he's always been since winning his Oscar back in 1968. Neither
actor's work, though, can hold a candle to the touching, scene-stealing work by Miller. leave a comment
