“Unorthodox”: The story of an escape

The four-part series tells the story of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish young woman called Esther (Shira Haas), or Esty, who leaves her husband, Yanky (Amit Rahav), for the unknown world outside her strict religious community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

“Unorthodox” story is based on a bestselling memoir by Deborah Feldman. The series is blunt in its depiction of how poorly women are treated within particular religious framework, while still remaining respectful of the religion itself. So, the flashbacks we watch are based on the Deborah Feldman’s real story, but the present day story is mostly made up.

This four-part miniseries is a beautiful, immersive portrait of a woman's rebirth, whose israeli Shira Haas plays with an extraordinary performance. With her petite frame and wide eyes, she evokes fear, grief and a mix of both naivety and wonder.

In the opening moments of the first episode, Esty, who is a 19-year-old girl, is attempting to flee her Satmar Hasidic community - which is mostly composed of descendants of Holocaust survivors who really developed what they were about after the war - without anyone noticing, especially her husband. At first, it is unclear why she needs to run, but, after, we see she is clearly desperate to get away. The tension in this opening scene is like any escape thriller.

“Unorthodox” focuses simultaneously on where Esty lands - in Berlin, where she meets Robert (Aaron Altaras) and his musician friends - and what has brought her to the point where she felt compelled to escape Brooklyn, toggling between flashbacks and moments from her present. Having lived in an extremely insular culture, the protagonist experiences, for the first time, things that are ordinary to most 19-year-olds, like couples openly kissing in public and people taking shower on the beach.

Information about Esty’s background leaks out little by little, with creators Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, who adapted the series from Deborah Feldman’s 2012 memoir, parceling out the details between how Esty and Yanky knew each other and how their marriage came to be. Although some opinions can say the opposite, “Unorthodox” resists making any character into the bad guy. Instead, the series introduces us to people who are trying to do what they firmly believe is right and, as a consequence, actors like Eli Rosen - who plays Rabbi Yossele, is an actor, translator and specialist when it comes to yiddish - and Jeff Wilbusch - who plays Moishe Lefkovitch, is from the Satmar community in Mea Shearim, Jerusalem - were hired to get the details right.

If “Unorthodox” is about the story of a woman’s escape from a society that she finds suffocating and unsustaining, it is also about the understanding to those who find religion to be a refuge from a world that has continually been hostile to Jews. And for that, there is a credit to give the director, Maria Schrader, to how well she visualizes both Williamsburg and Berlin: the scenes among the hasidic judaism are essentially period pieces, meticulously designed and costumed, and the dialogue goes from yiddish - Satmar’s community native language - to english and german, trying to reproduce as good as possible the reality of communities on the margin.

Portuguese version here.