Unorthodox . Worth a Watch for the Education Alone
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I decided I would give the new Netflix series a go as it features a story about the young lady of 19 living in Ultra Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. It really compelled me at the start by the way these Jewish people live their lives. The men worship the Torah all day and the women look after the household and their task is to basically repopulate the Jewish people after millions of their brethren died during the holocaust.
It tells a story of a girl called Etsy who decides to leave her husband at the start of the series. To leave her husband is considered the ultimate sin in their fate so she has to leave the country and seek a new life elsewhere. She knows her family will come looking for her so she flees to Berlin where her mother is living. Her mother is an outcast and she abandoned her husband in a similar scenario while Etsy was little.
There are so many things I could not believe while watching this series. The marriage ceremony for one thing was unbelievable and then the pressure to conceive a child straight after the marriage is ridiculous. The young couple have no idea of any sex education. Etsy was not even aware of her reproductive organ until a marriage guidance person pointed it out. Think back at the worst sex you ever had and multiply it by 1000.
I am on the 4th episode at the moment and I cannot wait to watch the rest of it. The acting in it is top class. It is subtitled but this adds to it. It is the first time I heard Yiddish spoken. It is very German sounding and I actually could understand some words by know German.
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After Etsy flees to Berlin, the rabbi sends her husband and a more streetwise Jew off to bring her home. He smuggles a gun to Berlin to assist him so he means business. Etsy arrives with nothing in Berlin and sleeps rough for a few nights. She does not want to seek out her mother at the beginning as she does not have a relationship with her. While there Etsy starts to make friends with some new people and she ends up doing things that she would not even consider back in New York. Her community are not allowed any technology for example so she has to ask advice on how to use a search engine. The loved the little things about this series. Even when the Jewish people knock on the door and whenever it is a sabbath day they salute each other by saying "Good Sabbath". I just found the it really interesting and I would hate to live in their world. I will not spoil the reasons for this.
Thanks for the review. I had seen it listed on Netflix but it didn't instantly catch my attention to watch. But your review has definitely changed my mind - will give it a watch when I have finished Marco Polo.
Yeah I was the same as you but glad I watched it. The praying in it is something else, Whats Marco Polo like?
Marco Polo's not bad if you like historical dramas.
I'm about half way through, think I will stick with it to the end.
Drags a bit in places, but good enough to fill Corona time.