NETFLIX
Unorthodox Netflix show follows Chasidic runaway to Berlin. ANDREW LAPIN EDITOR
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espite its cheeky title, Unorthodox paints a sympathetic portrait of both the Chasidic community and one young woman who desperately wants to leave it. The four-episode Netflix miniseries, premiering March 26 for our housebound pleasure, follows the story of Esther (Israeli actor Shira Haas of Shtisel), who cuts off all ties with her Williamsburg Orthodox community and flees to Berlin to start a new life. In so doing, Esther gets to exhibit more freedom than any of us currently have. Although it’s based on the memoir of the same name by Deborah Feldman, who also left her cloistered Chasidic New York community for Berlin, the show is largely its own invention. It doesn’t look down on Chasidic or secular life. Instead, series creator Anna Winger allows us to fully understand cultures and customs from every angle, including more critical ones. Unorthodox finds a powerful symbol in modern Berlin: a city of perpetual destruction and rebirth, where its protagonist finally discovers a sense of belonging in spite of the atrocities once perpetuated on her people here. In Brooklyn, Esther only spoke Yiddish, only interacted with other Jews and wasn’t allowed to play music. In
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DSO Music Director Jader Bignamini in action
DSO
Israeli actor Shira Haas as Esther in Netflix’s Unorthodox
Arts&Life
Arts Options DSO, Ann Arbor Film Festival go online. SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Berlin, she can speak English at a music conservatory with a multicultural group of friends — like a secular Israeli with some blunt thoughts on Chasids. But Esther’s self-discovery comes with rude awakenings, including the realization she may not have enough raw talent to fulfill her lifelong dreams. These scenes are intercut with the story of Esther’s husband, Yanky (Amit Rahav), desperately trying to track her down, less out of love than as a way to save his social standing in the community. But Yanky isn’t a monster; he’s a shy, confused kid who knows little of the outside world. Together with his loose-cannon cousin Moische (Jeff Wilbusch), the two track Esther to Berlin, where her mother (who fled the community years ago) also lives. What could have been a tiresome cat-and-mouse chase becomes more nuanced as these very different communities collide in unexpected ways. Jewish identity, in all its complex forms, is the heart of Unorthodox. We see Esther use a mikvah; plan and experience her own wedding; and bond with her traditionalist bubbie. And, at the same time, we see how much she plainly struggles with the burden of the community: “God expected too much of me,” she says. The real question is what she expects of herself.
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taying at home because of the coronavirus will not completely limit entertainment seekers from experiencing what originally had been planned. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and the Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF) are offering webcasts while live programming is suspended. Movie buffs can remotely watch new films and cinema discussions planned for the AAFF’s 58th year, which takes place March 24-29, the dates that had been planned for live audiences. Judging of short and feature films entered in competition for $22,500 in awards still will take place. Also being continued are moderated question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers. All programs, unless noted, are aimed at mature audiences. “The filmmakers deserve to have their work seen by an audience and our jurors in consideration of the awards,” said Leslie Raymond, festival director, who has overseen film categories that include experimental, documentary, narrative, animated and music. Award-winning films will be shown on the final day. The AAFF typically receives nearly 3,000 submissions annually from filmmakers in
more than 70 countries. The event is a pioneer of the traveling film festival and has visited theaters, universities, museums and micro-cinemas internationally. AAFF information and a listing of the film schedule are available at aafilmfest. org/58aaff-live-stream. Music fans can watch the talents of Jader Bignamini, the new DSO music director, as he appeared in archived concerts, offered live and on the web, and they also can enjoy other acclaimed maestros who have led a variety of DSO performances, both live and online. The archive, accessible by going to dso.org/replay, categorizes selections by season, musical style, composer and specific presentation. Listen to Baroque, the music of today or to various other styles. Choose a composer simply by scrolling through an alphabetical listing and then hear the DSO play that person’s works. Selections range from Brahms’ Concerto for Violin and Orchestra through George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” to Conor Brown’s “How to Relax with Origami” (a world premiere presentation). Interviews with performers also are available.
MARCH 26 • 2020
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