Shtisel Has Been Such a Hit That There Is Talk of An
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THE ISRAELI year’s hit, The Spy, with Sacha Baron Cohen Israeli officials and cops out for revenge. deal to humanise Orthodox Jews. They as Eli Cohen, who was a real-life Israeli spy The central characters are Israelis fighting also humanise Israelis, not by demonising in the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists, but Arabs or Palestinians, but by highlighting (on Canal Plus/Netflix). they could just as well be veterans from issues of love, family and ordinary On Israeli TV, the success of Prisoners the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have communal life. of War was quickly followed by the drama had Scandi-noir, about detectives hunting What is striking is that these dramas Fauda. This series revolved around a serial killers. This is Israeli-noir, about IDF don’t appear on the BBC or ITV. They team of undercover Israeli soldiers veterans haunted by memories of war. appear on Netflix and Amazon Prime, battling Palestinian terrorists. Two The success of these dramas has opened inspire American spin-offs and are starting seasons were aired in Israel before it the way for other genres. The Beauty and to feature international stars such as Sacha was taken up by Netflix. The New York the Baker (which aired two seasons in 2013 Baron Cohen. This is having an effect Times voted Fauda the best international and 2017) is a love story about an ordinary on Israeli cinema too, which has been TV show of 2017. Like Prisoners of War, baker in Tel Aviv who still lives at home marginalised for years in film festivals and Fauda owed much of its success to the with his parents and falls in love with one art cinemas: in January it was announced camaraderie of a close-knit team of Israeli of the richest and most beautiful women that Karen Gillan (familiar to Doctor soldiers but also showed that the real in Israel. A sort of Israeli version of Notting Who fans as Amy Pond) would star in casualties, on both sides, were the women. Hill, it has aired in more Gunpowder Milkshake, The series was clearly pro-Israel but the than 200 countries and is a new assassin movie Palestinian characters were not one- now available on Amazon “Shtisel has been scripted by Israeli writer dimensional villains and were given time Prime. Ehud Lavski and due for to develop. Two other recent such a hit that release in 2020. Another Israeli drama, When Heroes shows are also making there is talk of an The portrayal of Fly (2018), is now showing in the UK waves. Shtisel, a series Amazon spin-off Israeli life offered in on Netflix. It tells the story of a group that focuses on ultra- these dramas is often of veterans of the 2006 Lebanon war Orthodox Jews in set in Brooklyn” young, fast-paced and who, a decade later, reunite for a final Jerusalem, is currently increasingly high-tech. mission – to rescue the girlfriend of one airing on Netflix in the UK. The series I don’t suppose many people picked of the soldiers, who has been kidnapped interweaves the human stories of a large up on the following news story, which From sweeping works of fiction, to by a drug cartel in Colombia. The show is family: Giti is abandoned by her husband appeared in Jane’s Defence Weekly last Netflix dramas and drone technology, based on a novel by the Israeli author Amir and left to cope with five children; her August. It stated: “The United Kingdom Gutfreund and features Tomer Kapon, brother, Akiva, seeks love with the help of a has procured the Israeli-developed Drone Israeli writers, producers and one of the stars from Fauda. It starts as a delightful matchmaker. It has been such a Dome counter-unmanned aircraft system innovators are reshaping our ideas conventional war film, but then moves to hit in the US that there is talk of an Amazon (C-UAS), manufacturer Rafael confirmed about what it means to be Israeli in the South America and becomes a story of drug spin-off set in Brooklyn. to Jane’s on 13 August.” Four months later cartels and a strange cult. But in the last Another Netflix documentary being the story’s resonance became clear when it 21st century. David Herman reports on episodes it really takes off and becomes a shown in the US is One of Us, which follows was revealed that the military equipment this burst of creativity moving reflection on time, memory and three former chasidic Jews from Brooklyn, used to stop further drone disruption comradeship. who struggle with being ostracized from at Gatwick Airport included the Israel- What is striking about these series, their former community. developed Drone Dome system, which can NEW and perhaps what explains their appeal What is interesting about these series is detect and jam communications between a to British and American audiences, is how that they introduce the little-known world drone and its operators. dark they are. There is no glorification of of ultra-Orthodox Jews to mainstream And Israeli tech is expanding into other war. People suffer from PTSD. War haunts TV. Netflix in the States has also aired The areas: many drivers in the UK and US use soldiers for years. Characters include Wedding Plan, Rama Burshtein’s 2016 Waze GPS navigation, which was developed Israeli drug-dealers and gangsters, corrupt film about a quirky Orthodox woman by the Israeli company Waze Mobile. In in her 30s seeking a husband within 2013 Google bought Waze for $966 million Clockwise: Michael Aloni, Nadav Netz, Moshe the Orthodox community. At a time of to add social data to its mapping business. Ashkenazi, Tomer Kapon in When Heroes Fly; Rotem growing antisemitism on both sides of Waze’s 100 employees received over $1 COURTESY OF KESHET STUDIOS COURTESY Sela and Aviv Alush in The Baker and the Beauty the Atlantic, such programmes do a great million on average, the largest payout to employees in Israeli high tech. WAVE This new high-tech Israel looms large he recent death of Amos television – not just within Israel but heard of the American spin-off, Homeland, in Dov Alfon’s gripping thriller, A Long Oz marked a turning point internationally. Israeli culture is finding a huge TV hit in the US and in Britain, Night in Paris (2016), which has just been in Israeli culture. He was new audiences abroad, especially in the starring Damian Lewis, Claire Danes and published in the UK. It’s a compelling part of the same generation most important market of all, America. Mandy Patinkin and now into its eighth read about the kidnapping of an Israeli as Aharon Appelfeld, AB This started less than ten years ago season. Homeland has won huge critical software manager at Charles de Gaulle Yehoshua and Joshua Sobol, with the drama series Prisoners of War acclaim and numerous awards. Airport. Soon the bodies start to pile up all born in the 1930s. For as long as I can (Hatufim), which originally aired in Israel On the basis of Homeland, Gideon as Israeli intelligence, Chinese hitmen Tremember, discussions of Israeli culture in 2010. It told the story of three Israeli Raff, the creator of Prisoners of War, and the French police get involved. What were dominated by talk of serious novels soldiers who were captured 17 years before produced a number of series for US is distinctive about Alfon’s novel, which about the State of Israel. Suddenly all while on a secret mission with their unit television, including Tyrant (which ran on moves between Paris and Israel, is the this is changing. A new Israeli culture is in Lebanon. When it was shown in Israel, FX for three seasons) about an ordinary hyper-modern, high-tech feel. Abadi, exploding on the scene, producing best- Hatufim had the highest ratings of any American family caught up in the mayhem from Israeli intelligence, is given a new selling nonfiction, hit television shows on Israeli TV drama. of the Middle East; Dig (on USA Network), gizmo: “a new kind of smartphone with Netflix and a different kind of writing. You have probably never heard of an archaeological thriller about an tracking capabilities, the brainchild of The biggest impact has been on Prisoners of War but you may well have FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem; and last 8200’s technology centre. Code-named 10 JEWISHRENAISSANCE.ORG.UK APRIL 2019 APRIL 2019 JEWISHRENAISSANCE.ORG.UK 11 History of Tomorrow (2016), and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018) – have brought him international fame. Also based in Jerusalem is the essayist Benjamin Balint, who has written an interesting book on Commentary magazine, a superb essay on Clockwise: Shadi Mar’i and Tsahi Halevi in Fauda; Yuval Noah Harari; Michael Aloni, Gershom Scholem, and a book, Kafka’s Doval’e Glickman, Neta Riskin, Hadas Last Trial (published in the UK in January). Yaron and Sasson Gabai in Shtisel Balint’s book is an acclaimed account of the legal battle over Kafka’s papers and asks: ‘Navran’, the communications do the papers belong in Germany because device was the fastest he had Kafka was the greatest modern writer in experienced and it came with its German or should they be kept in Israel, own encryption system.” because that’s where Max Brod fled when Alfon’s thriller is part of the the Germans marched into Prague? exciting new wave of Israeli Another Israeli academic, Malachi fiction. The recent deaths of Hacohen, is professor of history, political Appelfeld and Oz are a reminder science and religion at Duke University in of the passing of writers who North Carolina, but was born and brought were formed by the Holocaust and the sense of the growing brutalisation of Israeli up in Israel.