Unorthodox

“You escaped, didn’t you?”

“You make it sound like I was in prison”

“Weren’t you?”

“No….but I left without telling anyone where I was going”

A conversation we don’t expect to have happened in the 21st century….and yet it has. A Netflix mini-series that follows the scandalous yet empowering emancipation of a 19-year-old Jewish woman, ‘Unorthodox’ is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat for the entirety of its 4-hour run-time.

We see Esther “Esty” Shapiro, a newly married woman in an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in Williamsburg, New York, and her attempt at escaping a suppressed life by fleeing to Berlin to live with her estranged mother and start afresh. It is loosely based on Deborah Feldman’s memoir Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of my Hasidic Roots.

Now, the fundamentals of ultra-Orthodox Judaism is- All that is new is forbidden. Men and women are often separated during occasions and the major role of a woman is to give birth to children. Education is restricted to religion-based studies and the community is kept far from secular culture.

One of the notable points of this show is the detailed and immaculate portrayal of Hasidic life. This includes the arranged marriage of Esty to a naive and shy man named Yanky, small glimpses into the lives of typical married women in the community, Esty’s special relationship with her grandmother involving them listening to music in secret, the rules to be followed by a married woman, the celebration of Passover and more rich yet conservative cultural norms.

Esty Shapiro, played by the absolutely brilliant Shira Haas, pulls the most daring, most condemned stunt in her culture, going against everything she’s ever known. Why? Because she could not be what God expected her to be- a good wife and mother who shops and cooks for her husband. We follow Esty as she struggles to rid herself of the daunting past that isn’t quite finished with her, and to establish her new life in Berlin- the root of her family’s struggle.

Once in Berlin, she befriends music students of a modern and progressive lifestyle who invite her on a trip to Lake Wannsee. Lake Wannsee has a history of nazism, housing the villa where the fundamentals of The Final Solution (the Holocaust) were decided. Moreover, it is mentioned that East German guards would shoot anyone who tried to cross the lake to freedom.

Ultimately though, the lake was a simply beautiful lake. Esty, tentative at first, slowly walks towards the middle of the lake, feeling an indescribable overwhelming sense of liberation she had never experienced before. She removes her sheitel (a wig worn by married Hasidic women) and dips herself in the cool waves of the lake. She was a new person with a chance to start over, and above all else, she was free.

Director Maria Schrader delivers a powerfully symbolized and emotional scene, making it one of the strongest points of the show by a mile. She repeatedly switches between the colorful Berlin and ominous New York, while showing candid scenes and intersecting timelines through flashbacks.

What really brings this show together is Shira Haas’ ingenious portrayal of a fragile and completely inexperienced woman, with willful determination. She has brought out the spirit of her character, wading through an ocean of apprehension, self-doubt, and thirst for freedom.

As the Torah says, “If not me, then who? If not now, then when?”

Out of ten, I give Unorthodox all the hundreds of tears I shed while watching this brilliant emotional rollercoaster of a journey.