“Beating (Barbara Sternberg, 1995) continues the experimental filmmaker's exploration of identity at the intersection of patriarchy and anti-Semitism. Never one to sit comfortably beneath big words like feminism or Zionism, Sternberg takes bits of text from such writers as Helene Cixous and Hannah Arendt and patches them together with rough, layered fragments of images. Running through it all is a singular thread of ecstasy. The film flows like a rolling expression of mixed emotions—fear, passion, rage—following a personal symbolic system and a 25-part structure that it may be useful to know but isn't necessary. In effect, Beating is like music—appreciating it is entirely dependent on taste and prior knowledge.”
Cameron Bailey, Now Magazine, April 6, 1995