Arts&Life

Unorthodox

Netfl
 ix show follows Chasidic 
runaway to Berlin.

D

espite its cheeky title, 
Unorthodox paints a sym-
pathetic portrait of both 
the Chasidic community and 
one young woman who desper-
ately wants to leave it. 
The four-episode Netflix 
miniseries, premiering March 
26 for our housebound plea-
sure, 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 free-
dom 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 protag-
onist 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 

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 commu-
nity. 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 col-
lide 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. 

ANDREW LAPIN EDITOR

40 | MARCH 26 • 2020 

Israeli actor 
Shira Haas as 
Esther in Netflix’
s 
 
Unorthodox

NETFLIX

Arts Options

DSO, Ann Arbor Film Festival go online.
S

taying at home because of 
the coronavirus will not 
completely limit enter-
tainment seekers from expe-
riencing 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 ques-
tion-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 exper-
imental, documentary, narra-
tive, 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 travel-
ing film festival and has visited 
theaters, universities, museums 
and micro-cinemas interna-
tionally.
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 perfor-
mances, both live and online. 
The archive, accessible by 
going to dso.org/replay, cate-
gorizes 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 per-
son’
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. 

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

DSO Music 
Director Jader 
Bignamini in 
action

DSO

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