PRAYING WITH LIOR
Directed by Ilana Trachtman. Playing in New York.
"Shot over three years in a close-knit Jewish Reconstructionist community in Philadelphia, Praying With Lior documents the extraordinary life of Lior Liebling, a rabbi's son with Down syndrome and an obsessive love of prayer. While family and friends marvel over Lior's putative spirituality, the director, Ilana Trachtman, captures a larger story. As the Lieblings engage in exhaustive preparations for Lior's bar mitzvah, we see a sweet-natured, high-functioning young man enjoy a level of assimilation - and attention - granted to few of the mentally disabled."
Reviewed by Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times.