Movies with a Jewish Topic on Netflix: Kulüp

 

For a long time I haven´t watched a movie with a Jewish topic on Netflix, but this was only a metter of time. As I am getting more and more interested in discovering the Ladino culture and its representations, I was recommended by several respectable sources to not miss Kulüp - The Club - set in the 1950s multicultural area of Pera in Istanbul. And what a journey it was - a binge watching one, for sure.

The series were released between 2021 and 2023, is spoken in Turkish with many Ladino expressions and beautiful songs. It is built around the story of a night club, who is undergoing various challenging, both at the personal, socio-political and economic level.

The film starts when Matilda Aseo, the heir of a once rich Jewish-Turkish family, is returning after an amenisty following the murder of her once lover, a Turkish entrepreneur who apparently ruined her family. After 17 years spent in prison, she is supposed to get in touch with her daughter, Rașel, who was sent meanwhile in an orphanage. The relationship is tensed and while trying to save her rebelious daughter from prison, she makes a deal that may mark her life from now on.

First and foremost, the screenplay is very well written, with way too many changes of situation, which correspond in fact to the outside environment, such as the riots against the Greek minority, the taking over of Jewish properties during the war, the military putch, the raise of real estate tycoons and the subsequent gangster-like crimes.

The representation of the Jewish identity is set in the context of interaction with the majority, the restrictions and the challenges. Matilda, although twice in love with Muslim men, she is lighting the Shabbes candles and keeps a mezuza at her door. It´s a feeling of being fully aware of who you are, in a nonstrident yet careful way. It is a sense of measure forgotten sometimes.

I am not familiar with a nuanced local representations of Jews within the Turkish society, but would definitely interested to explore more, but as for now, the feedback I´ve read about this film, coming from Jewish sources, was positive.

Personally, I´ve found the play of the actors very good, especially Rașel, particularly towards the end of the movie, as she is fighting against depression, set following her traumatic birth and first almost two decades of life.

With an interesting story and a lot of Ladino references, Kulüp can be a good introduction to a less known Jewish episode. Recommended for a good binge watching, but be ready for a lot of drama.

A Sweet Film About Bat Mitzva and A Bit More

 

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah available since the end of August on Netflix is a sweet coming-of-age comedy featuring Adam Sandler, his wife Jackie (as Gabi Rodriguez Katz) and their daughters Sadie (as Ronnie) and Sunny (Stacy, the girl who is looking forward to her bat mitzvah party). Sunny´s preparations for the bat mitzvah party may involve more than preparing for an epic event, as the world seems to crush: her best friend is dating her crush, she is constantly fighting with her parents and otherwise the preparation of reading her Haftorah seems to be going nowhere. But what about taking the mitzvah from the party seriously and trying instead of throwing an expensive party to fix somehow the world, starting with repairing her friendship.

The movie is based on a 2005 book by Fiona Rosenbloom that I haven´t read by now.

The movie is entertaining, relatable to both teenagers and their parents, with topics that are generally common to such age-related issues. However, the subject as well as the framework of the movie is fundamentally Jewish and definitely proudly outlined. The teenagers and their parents featured in the movie are proud to be Jewish, wearing their Magen David and kippot, attending the Sunday school in the ´Temple´ held by a hippy rabba who loves to be on the threadmill while teaching having her consulting hours. They are diverse children of all possible appearances and names, all of them sharing the same identity and - again - being very proud of it. 

For an American audience, it makes a lot of sense and it´s pretty common, but for the more traditional realms, including in Israel, it´s hardly heard of. Luxurious bat mitzvah parties, where girls are reading their portion in the ´Temple´ during the week and party as crazy in the weekend, are rarely heard of. And so is the idea sometimes that there is a vibrant non-Orthodox/non-traditional Judaism, happy and unproblematically own. Which is obviously wrong.

Therefore, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is a both a movie for children and their parents, more or less traditional, funny but equally a reminder that Jewish life in general is beautiful and a blessing and enjoying it in the many ways it´s experienced is equally a mitzvah.

Remembering Baghdad

´We are part and parcel of Iraq and I will not let go´.

Remember Baghdad, currently available on Netflix, documents the 2,500 years of Jewish history in Baghdad through the eyes of five families currently living in London. Although the traces of Jewish history are everywhere in Iraq, particulary in Baghdad, few people may remember nowadays the 140,000 Jews that were forced to leave the country.

Formerly a center of the Jewish world, Iraq is coping with a decade of dictatorship, war, civil conflict and foreign involvement. The film brings to life family stories and memories, businesses that were left behind and political projects - such as involvement in the Communist Party, were some of the former members got later involved in similar projects in Israel.

Like in the case of Persian Jews, Iraqi Jews nourish kind memories of their former country. It is a love for a country were they used to live or about whom they dreamed about with the dreams of their parents and grandparents. 

The film is using both documentary sources about Iraqi Jews and the making of the Middle East and Israel during and after WWII and direct interviews, as well as ground research in Baghdad and Irbil. It is balanced, nostalgic and keeps the distance from the subjects in order to let them unfold their stories, and the testimonies about their contribution to the local economy and culture.

Until the time will come for the Jews of Iraq to be able to visit again the places where they or their parents and grandparents were born, documentaries like Remember Baghdad are here to make everyone aware of their presence and memories. One day...

Movie Review: The Septembers of Shiraz

I am rarely interested in watching the movie installment of a book, but some books are better told more than once.

Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer is a book featuring the drama of a Jewish jewellery businessman in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, based on personal accounts. Sofer, an Iranian Jew, grew up herself during those years and explores this experience in her books. Her latest, Man of My Time, was one of my favorite reads this year for the maturity of the writing and the complexity of the approach of another topic set up in Iran, without the Jewish narrative this time.

I watched the movie based on Septembers of Shiraz on Netflix, part of the monthly subscription. The film is directed by the Australian-Aboriginal writer, actor and director Wayne Blair, with an exceptional distribution of actors playing very well their roles: Adrien Brody, Salma Hayek, Shohreh Aghdashloo among others.

As an observation, the film follows the original script based on the book although it gives to it a strong socially-oriented touch. It made sense and the references were inserted in a smart way. The only thing I was largely skeptical about was the frequent use by the Arabic ´yalla´ by the Revolutionary Guards, long before Iran started to mix into the Arabic-speaking lands (the events are taking place in the months of 1979, therefore, slightly implausible.

At a certain extent, there is a grain of sad reality in the confrontational reality created those months: the gap between the very rich and priviledged and the very poor and with no chance to challenge their condition. The relationship between Farnaz, Isaac´s wife, and her home keeper has a revelatory dynamic of the lack of content of the social relationships at the time of the Shah. Therefore, once the social and political realities changed the representatives of the less priviledged were able to state with the same cruelty afflicted to them by SAVAK´s torturers: ´now it was our turn´.

Besides the strong social message, the moral dilemma present in the book is maintained and the characters - no matter which side of the self-rightousness are - complex and beyond the black and white portraits. 

The cruelty is explicit and raw but it is the kind of violence that is far from being gratuitous. It is the sign of the new times which, after a generation swallow undefinitely almost everyone. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

Jewish Movie Review: Disobedience

Based on the novel with the same name by Naomi Alderman, Disobedience is a subtle discourse about the freedom of assuming one´s identity. 

Set in the Orthodox community of Northern London, it explores the triangle Esti-Dovid-Ronit. Ronit is back from NYC to attend the shiva of his father, Rav Krushka, a respected local authority. Estranged from her family and community, she mets again Esti who is married now with Dovid, the logical successor of the Rav. Ronit´s relocation to NYC was caused by the love story between her and Esti that seems that after so many years it is still alive.

Ronit, now a successful photographer, come at terms with her own past, but longed for forgiveness from her father. She is too late though. Esti, a teacher at a girls´ school is playing her role assumed to her in the community, until the meeting with Ronit will wake her up from the life that did not represent her. In a couple of days, this is about to change as she is asking her husband to be free: `I was born in this community. I had no choice. I want my child to decide`.

What will happen after that, how Esti will deal with her newly discovered freedom, if she will follow Ronit or not to NYC are open questions we are left free to guess. What mattered for the story was the main choices of the characters between their appeareances built for the sake of the community and their real selves. 

There are many reasons why I really love this movie: the authentic ambiance of the Jewish Orthodox North London, the natural ways the tensions between the characters and the unfolding story is flowing, the excellent play of the actors, among which Rachel Weisz, as Ronit.

First and foremost I appreciated the quality of a movie who doesn´t want to convince anyone from anything, and just has a story to tell. The fact that it takes place within an observant Jewish community is only the context, what matters is the struggle of the characters and their personal destinies and choices. 

I also recommend reading the book which is a good read too. 

Disobedience the movie is available on Netflix.

Watching Fauda on Netflix

Fauda - which means chaos in Arabic -, labelled as the Israeli version of Homeland which is available in 2 series on Netflix is aggressive, unbearable cruel and might raise a lot of red flags on the part of the left-wing but it's genuinely realistic. 

Based on the experience the authors of the screenplay - Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff - had themselves during the Army service in the Mista'aravim unit - dealing with special counter-terrorism operations - it shows both sides - Israeli and Palestinians in a different light that supporters of both would love to see them. Israeli are psychologically manipulative while Palestinians don't miss a change to kill each other in a fight for power which overcomes sometimes their 'resistance'. Betrayal is such a human sin and desire to survive might be bigger than any potential reward in the world to come. 

You have dangerous terrorists addicted to chocolate, and poor Cpt. Ayoub who in the middle of a complicated interrogation shall give clear directions to his kids about what to eat for dinner - and terrible strong women who are hard to break, although destiny broke their lives more than once. The political and social context in the area - on the Palestinian side especially - is relativelly well portrayed, with the complex fight for power and authorities between different political and military factions as well as the impact of newly 'imported' radical movements, mostly from Syria, such as Daesh (ISIS).

Not all episodes are equally interesting and not all the actors are outstanding good, but watching them on binge - two series in a short week - might give an short idea of life and death in this part of the world. There is no romanticism and no black-and-white drama either, just raw confrontations and fight for survival - personal and/or political. No one could be brave in this fight.

This fight for survival, which involves also having to deal with some people that might think are your worse enemies is unfortunatelly unknown to many outsiders. The fact that besides the black-and-white, occupier vs. victim perspective, on the ground there are much more complex interactions and people from both sides of the wall can work - sometimes very well - together. There are Arabic speaking Jews and Hebrew speaking Arabs, there are people who are friends regardless their religion and language their speak. Jews from Arab lands and Iran, mostly the first generation, but sometimes the second too, do feel at home among their Arabic neighbours (ask any old Jew from Iran and Iraq about their memories about their home lands and you will be surprise how much love they kept in their hearts for their place of birth). They don't love each other that much and maybe they are not friends either, but they know each other much better than people whose only political activism is to post on social media ready made materials often produced by the propaganda departments of Hamas or other proxies (in Fauda the members of Hamas, compared to other radical military wings, look like a bunch of playboys). The propaganda reality that various political entities (none sides are innocent) want to project is that some are always good and some are always bad and until one side disappears, there will be no peace.

When someone wants to really start understanding beyond the propaganda narrative, it should start by gathering data and information and facts, talk to people and understand both sides with an open, realistic and emotion-free mind. The fact that some always started their school days cursing Israel and the Jews make them the least experts in understanding the area unless they really want to. Reacting with tears in your eyes when you see a video about 'Nakba' or graffiti on the wall portraying the resistance, donning a keffiyeh is nothing. Really nothing. Did you RT and liked religiously all those messages about Nakba/Nekba today? With the right hashtag? Complained to a random colleague about what the occupation is doing to people? You paid your moral duties to the world today. Repeat. (Al Jazeera Network which produced many of those easy-to-share videos is supported by the gas-rich Qatar which generously subsidizes Hamas, besides the Palestinian Authority).

Sometimes I wish very much I will get to live the moment when Israel will be friend again with Iran and the Arab countries will recognize the state. All those people who really believed what the political propaganda wanted them to believe will need to find a new cause to 'fight' from the comfort of their chair in the front of their computer RT-ing or sharing what they were supposed to share, isn't it? During the Cold War, such people used to be called - excuse my French - 'useful idiots'. By the way, top leaders of the terrorist movements almost never offer themselves to die in terror attacks. Just an observation.

Knowledge brings always power. With all its imperfections and Hollywood-touch, Fauda can help a little bit to see a different side of the coin. Politics are complicated and not for everyone's understanding, especially in the Middle East (something that the US, Russia, France and the Britain among others hardly grasp, if ever). 

Shtisel

The haredi - ultra-Orthodox - world is often portrayed in literary or visual representations - either done by people that left the fold or are insiders, as a massive homogenous block. The members of the group are either perfect and self-righteous - the insider's view - or oppressive and intolerant towards any manifestation of difference and secular knowledge - the outsider's. 

Shtisel - a movie I am binge-watching on Netflix since the year of 2018 - makes a difference by creating and adding nuances to the extreme descriptions and creating realistic characters and stories. Based in the Geula ultra-orthodox neighbourhood - Mea Shearim is one of the many of them in Jerusalem - it develops around the Shtisel family. Each of the characters, regardless the age and gender, they have their own struggles and problems, either with the society or the other members of their family. They have passions and need to make choices, are doubting their mission or just don't stand each other. 

Interesting is also the different aproach on religion and the switch of traditions, from the Yiddish-speaking culture to the Hebrew traditions, or the positioning towards the Israeli state and the secular holidays and world in general. 

There are honest depictions that contribute to creating good and memorable stories, with individuals whose life and decisions you would be curious to follow from an episode to another. Some of the characters are also very well played, and my favorites so far are Ruchami (played by the very talented Shira Haas) and Akiva (played by Michael Aloni) representing complex personalities with a very strong will that are facing unusual situations that require decisions that are sometimes suprising. The scenario was written by Ori Elon - who also wrote the Srugim (Hebrew series featuring dati leumi singles in Jerusalem) and Yehonatan Indursky that studied at the Ponevezhn Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, an experience that he featured in a movie.  

As far as I know, it is the first time when the world of Haredi Jews is revealed to the outside world and it might be a surprise both for Jews and non-Jews. It is also the first time when probably this view is non-judgemental, wrapped as art and offering a largely realistic outlook. 

As for now, there are only two seasons available, filmed in 2013, but it seems that there will be more coming up, probably with the location of the movie moving to Brooklyn. I, personally, can't wait the new adventures of Shtisel family.