Unorthodox (miniseries)
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Unorthodox |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | Yiddish , English , German |
| year | 2020 |
| length | 53-55 minutes |
| Episodes | 4th |
| genre | drama |
| Director | Maria Schrader |
| idea | Deborah Feldman |
| script |
Anna Winger , Alexa Karolinski |
| production | Alexa Karolinski |
| music | Antonio Gambale |
| camera | Wolfgang Thaler |
| cut |
Hansjörg Weißbrich , Gesa Jäger |
| Initial release | March 26, 2020 on Netflix |
| occupation | |
Unorthodox is a German four-part Netflix miniseries from 2020. It tells the story of a young woman who freed herself from the ultra-orthodox Jewish religious community of the Satmarers in New York and started a new life in Berlin.
The scenes set in America are loosely based on the 2012 book Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman , in which she describes experiences of her childhood and youth. The storyline in Berlin, however, is fictional. According to showrunner Anna Winger , “Esther's life in Berlin should be very different from Deborah's life in Berlin”.
action
19-year-old Esther "Esty" Shapiro (nee Schwartz ) lives in Brooklyn 's Williamsburg district of New York . She belongs to the ultra-orthodox religious community of the Satmar Hasids and grows up with her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor from Hungary. At the request of the community, Esty enters an arranged marriage with Yakov "Yanky" Shapiro.
The marriage turns out to be unhappy as the couple have sexual problems and Esther does not get pregnant as she is expected because of persistent pain during intercourse . Her husband Yakov wants a divorce under pressure from the family, not knowing that Esther is now expecting a child. On a Sabbath , Esther secretly leaves the house to fly to Berlin . Her mother lives there, who left the Satmar community and her child at an early age in order to lead a self-determined life as a lesbian woman. In Berlin, Esther met a group of music students from different countries and made friends with them.
While Esther is discovering new freedoms for herself in Berlin, such as swimming in the Wannsee and going out, her husband Yakov and his cousin Moische, who are also flying to Berlin, plan to bring her back. Esther learns from her mother that she has not left her, as Esther thought, but that her custody was revoked in court. Esther also tries to get accepted into her friends' music academy. She initially wanted to take the piano, but then decided to sing.
production
The showrunner of the series is Anna Winger , who realized the series together with Henning Kamm as the first production of her company Studio Airlift. The producer was Alexa Karolinski .
The series was shot almost exclusively in Berlin in the summer of 2019. The team only traveled to the USA for three days for a few external scenes. All interior shots were filmed in the CCC Studios on Eiswerder in Spandau, a rectory in Reinickendorf and a Palestinian ballroom in Moabit. The musical instrument museum at the Philharmonie served as the backdrop for the music college. The fictional music academy in Unorthodox is inspired by the Barenboim Said Academy in Berlin.
Cast and dubbing
The German-language dubbing was done by VSI Berlin GmbH. Author of the dialogue book was Marianne big as dialogue director was Sabine Falkenberg operates.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Esther "Esty" Shapiro | Shira Haas | Magdalena Höfner |
| Yakov "Yanky" Shapiro | Amit Rahav | Sebastian Kaufmane |
| Moishe Lefkovitch | Jeff Wilbusch | Jeff Wilbusch |
| Leah Almond Tree Schwartz | Alex Reid | Janin Stenzel |
| Malka Schwartz | Ronit Asheri | |
| Miriam Shapiro | Delia Mayer | |
| Zeidy | David Almond Tree | |
| Reb Yossele | Eli Rosen | |
| Robert | Aaron Altaras | Aaron Altaras |
| Yael Roubeni | Tamar Amit-Joseph | Ana Purwa |
| Dasia | Safinaz Sattar | Safinaz Sattar |
| Axmed | Langston Uibel | Langston Uibel |
reception
Jan Kedves von der Zeit describes Unorthodox as an “exciting story of empowerment” and particularly praises the dramaturgical tricks of the script, which deviates greatly from the novel.
Jenni Zylka writes in the taz : "In addition to the classic motif of the liberation of an oppressed soul, Unorthodox gives an authentic insight into a hermetic world that is even smaller and narrower for the women living in it than for men."
Volker Weidermann from Spiegel particularly praises the main actress Shira Haas: "This Esthy is played so impressively by the Israeli actress Shira Haas between fragility and courage to fight, delicate transparency and willingness to box that it knocks you over and over again."
In an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , the historian Michael Wolffsohn criticizes the film's use of anti-Jewish stereotypes : “Since most viewers of Unorthodox are probably less familiar with Judaism than Christianity and Islam, they will mistakenly conclude that 'Judaism' condemns carnal lust. In this way, 'Enlightenment' is transformed into misinformation and 'the' Judaism is stigmatized as misogynistic . ”Thus,“ perversion of religion is presented as the supposed general normality of religiosity ”. Alan Posener denounced the film in the world as a "feel-good movie for Berlin hipsters and those who would like to be". The portrayal of Esther's uncle as a greedy rental shark would serve anti-Semitic clichés. In addition, in view of anti-Semitic attacks in Berlin, it is not acceptable to portray the city as a refuge for Jews. "No Berliner can approve of the trivialization, trivialization, transfiguration and kitschification of the city."
Frieda Vizel, who grew up in a Satmar family and guides tourists through Hasidic Brooklyn, criticized in an article for The Forward that the series as a whole gave a false image of the Satmar community.
Web links
- Unorthodox in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Unorthodox at Fernsehserien.de
- Unorthodox at Serienjunkies.de
- Unorthodox in the German dubbing index
- Unorthodox atrotten tomatoes(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sheena Scott: 'Unorthodox' Review: Portrait Of A Young Woman Finding Freedom In Berlin . In: forbes.com of March 31, 2020.
- ↑ Thomas Schultze: http://beta.blickpunktfilm.de/details/449328 . In: beta.blickpunktfilm.de from March 27, 2020.
- ↑ "Unorthodox" was filmed at these locations in Berlin. In: Berliner Morgenpost. March 27, 2020, accessed March 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Thomas Abeltshauser: Away from the bank . Retrieved April 22, 2020.
- ↑ Thomas Abeltshauser: Maria Schrader: "I want to change the way we look at things" . Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ↑ Unorthodox. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on April 2, 2020 .
- ^ A story of liberation with biblical images. In: The time. March 26, 2020, accessed March 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Jenni Zylka: Replace six million. In: taz. March 25, 2020, accessed March 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Volker Weidermann: Berlin, a fairytale city. In: Der Spiegel. March 26, 2020, accessed March 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Michael Wolffsohn: This is what religion looks like in black and white film. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. March 26, 2020, accessed March 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Alan Posener: Why “Unorthodox” uses anti-Semitic clichés. In: The world. April 3, 2020, accessed April 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Frieda Vizel: I left the Satmar Hasidic community. 'Unorthodox' is a grossly inaccurate depiction of that world. Retrieved April 25, 2020 (American English).