Unorthodox *contains spoilets* Edited by MNHQ

[cushioncovers]

Anyone watching? I really enjoyed it. Found it fascinating

Yes, I watched it in one evening, and loved it. I really liked the little documentary about it as well, it's a life I hardly knew existed anymore.

I found it fascinating.

I didn't realise that their idea is to replace the 6 million Jews that lost their lives in ww2.

I enjoyed it but found it ended sort of abruptly. From where Moishe finds her it kind of lost it's way in parts. Moishe went to a lot of trouble with the pimp guy to kidnap her. Then he threatens her, gives her a gun and walks away? A really, really stupid plan which backfired on him in the only way it could. Time is spent establishing a romance for Esty with Rob, which was lovely but not likely to really go anywhere because as lovely as Rob and all the other musician friends (apart from the awful Yael) were. Once Esty has that baby their lives will diverge significantly. The baby also means that Yanky and his family aren't going to just disappear. And what was with intercutting Esty's audition with Moishe winning a poker game? It brought nothing to the story at all.

The same goes for the grandmother's death in New York. That will devastate Esty. It was like it only happened to show how the Shapiro's were heartless about Esty's family in not telling Esty her grandmother was sick. As well as absolutely epically stupid, because if Moishe and Yanky had told Esty that her grandmother had just had a series of heartattacks and was at death's door, she'd have accompanied them back to New York in an instant.

I hadn’t heard of it but don’t need to watch it now with the run through above ^

A brilliant film based around an Orthodox Community in London is ‘Disobedience’.

It’s only available to buy though online - a couple of quid worth spending though if you are interested. The same writer worked on ‘Ida’, another very moving film, I thought.

I hadn’t heard of it but don’t need to watch it now with the run through above ^

If you read my first sentence where it's obvious I'm discussing the ending, you should have known not to read on. Mumsnet doesn't have a spoiler hiding function, so it's unfortunately up to the reader to skip obvious spoilers.

I agree littleprivacy. It's based on a real person so I'm interested to know how things ended once the baby was born. She's has written a book apparently so I might give it a read.

I feel as if Ive read the book. Berlin doesnt happen, does it?

It never really said where she was living or getting all her money from, that annoyed me and we dont know if she got the scholarship or not.

It was beautiful to watch though. I really enjoyed it.

I have just watched it on the back of this thread and thought it a wonderful series. The lead actor - she is amazing.

I have really enjoyed it having just finished it in two days. I learned a lot!

I thought the poker game showed Moishe's flaws and ambivalence. Plus as this is based on a true story I don't see the grand mothers death as a plot device.

I did feel discomfort at the nudity just because the actress looks pre pubescent.

Oh and the language confused me. Is there that much English in Yiddish?

Yes the actress looked physically very young and thin almost anorexic looking. It was off putting for me as I felt it took away from the story. Is she very short in RL?

I saw her as a normal but petite young woman.

Plus as this is based on a true story I don't see the grand mothers death as a plot device.

It's not really. It was inspired by the book written Deborah Feldman which was in turn inspired by her own life. There were enormous differences between the series, the book and the actual facts of Feldman's life. For example, Deborah and her husband left Williamsburg together and were living a more secular life to the point that she was attending Sarah Lawrence college when she left him. Their son was around 5 at that point. There is no record of when her grandmother died/if she is dead but it certainly didn't happen the night before her audition to a music college in Germany, while her husband and his cousin hunted her because those things never happened.

Yes thats why I was confused because I did read the book. I did wonder whether it was leading up to a series 2.

I watched the "making of" doc at the end and they said that the historical stuff was true to her autobiography but the current day stuff wasn't btw. They said as she's a current political figure (maybe that was too boring) they wanted to create a different story.

And what was with intercutting Esty's audition with Moishe winning a poker game? It brought nothing to the story at all

I don’t know much about the religion but this is what it signified to me;

Both are in that moment of time doing something that their religion dictates they shouldn’t. Esty is behaving immodestly and Moische is gambling (which is frowned upon). However, Moische is allowed to behave all righteously and Esty is treated disgustingly.

To most people who do not come from the community, Esty is making beautiful music and is appreciated and enjoyed, Moische seems to have a problem that is quite taboo and frowned upon (so the people who are not from the community judge them in a reverse way to how their family are judging her)

That made no sense what so ever

Loved the series however!

@crabonastick I think that’s a really good analysis.

Shtisel is another series set in the world of very religious Jews. I’m really enjoying it. The actor who plays Etsy is in this series too as a younger girl (I’m guessing it was filmed earlier as there are two series).

Also on Netflix by the way.

I'm also watching Shtisel and really enjoying it.

Yes the actress looked physically very young and thin almost anorexic looking. It was off putting for me as I felt it took away from the story. Is she very short in RL?

I googled her - she's 24!

You may also be interested in One of Us. A documentary about people trying to leave the community

Thanks @paap1975 - I've added it to my watch list on Netflix (who helpfully served it up as a likely item to watch next after Unorthodox).