Unorthodox

This limited series has been on my mind a lot since I watched it. It tells the story of a young woman from Williamsburg, New York, who grows up in a Jewish sect with strict rules; they overwhelm her after she is forced into an arranged marriage, and she flees, which results in many challenges. A powerful tale based on a real memoir.

This limited series is based on the book "Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots" (2012) by Deborah Feldman, but it has changed some elements of the original story. The cast and crew are mainly German and Israeli, and the settings are Williamsburg (Brooklyn, USA) and Berlin (Germany).

The cast, of whom I had only seen some in minor roles before, is very convincing, especially protagonist Shira Haas. She plays Esty Shapiro with a vulnerability and strength which is impressive, and her fragile body and expressive face are just as important as her great acting. The director, as I found out during my research, is Maria Schrader, who I knew from her time as an actress, for example in Aimée and Jaguar (1999). The creative team is largely female (direction, writing, production, design etc.), which can be felt in many ways - at least it seems that way to me. The relationships between women are very important and emotionally powerful, and sensitive topics such as arranged marriages, marital sex, pressure of producing an heir and many more are shown in unusual honesty.

The cinematography (as visible in the images below) is often stunning, and the visual expression with items of hairstyle and clothing is very symbolically charged. Also the music used in the series is important, as Esty loves music and there are several crucial scenes with musical performances.

Another element which I - as a linguist - found especially fascinating, was the extended use of Yiddish in this series. While I've often heard it, I've never been exposed to it at such length. The mixture with English is also fascinating, one might write entire scientific papers about the instances of code-switching during the dialogues. 

As a speaker of both English and German, it is interesting how some sentences were very clearly understandable, while others (including more words originating in Hebrew) were completely unintelligible. 

Coming from a country where many different types of Jewish faith coexist with other religions - from strictly orthodox to loosely culturally Jewish, I have learned about Judaism in both school and everyday life. In recent years, there has also been an increased discussion after a novel named"Wolkenbruch's Wondrous Journey Into the Arms of a Shiksa" by author Thomas Meyer was published in 2012 and then made into a feature film in 2018 (Usually called The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch in English). It tells the story of a young Orthodox Jew named Motti Wolkenbruch, who falls in love with a shiksa (non-Jewish woman), and starts to question the rules and traditions of his community. 

The topics of questioning your strict environment and breaking out - whether to a different place or just into a different surrounding with different people - are so generally understandable, that the series (and the film) also attracted people without a specific interest in the Jewish faith. Such stories can be found in various communities, and therefore also serve as inspiration for different circumstances. In any case, the series Unorthodox is worth watching.

(Images: IMDB)