Fact vs. Fiction: One of Us vs. Unorthodox
by John Reoli
Cloistered religious communities conjure thoughts of fear and wonder. Many, if not most, are simply dismissed as cults such as, the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones who ordered a mass murder suicide at his jungle commune in Guyana in 1978. However, other communal or semi communal religious communities exist globally and have been thriving for decades. Such is the case of the the Ultraorthodox Hasidic community in Brooklyn, New York.
By no means the only community represented on Netflix with a documentary, the Ultraorthodox Hasidic community in Brooklyn, New York has Unorthodox, a new fictional limited series which depicts the story of one young woman’s escape from this community, as well as, One of Us, a new documentary focusing on the lives of three disparate people trying to separate themselves from their Ultraorthodox roots. Watched in tandem, both provide insights into a misunderstood and often maligned religious culture while presenting the harsh realities faced by those who choose to leave as well as those who choose to stay.
Esty, the heroine in Unorthodox expertly played by Shira Haas, had never sought out to leave her community and its way of life. Events that affect her decisions happen almost by accident to her. Being told her entire life that she is an orphan, she describes herself as “different” to Yanky, the man chosen by a matchmaker to be her husband. So great is her difference, at eighteen years old, she doesn’t seem to be able to elaborate to him the manner in which she is different. Since Yanky doesn’t ask, his indifference to her as a person is as obvious as his quaking for sexual contact, presumably his first sexual contact, with her. Sensitively played by Amit Rahav, who deftly captures Yanky’s immaturity and desperate struggle to please his wife, family and community, Yanky represents the patriarchal continuity of the community, a community which Esty quickly discovers is increasingly inseparable from their marriage.
Unorthodox is based on Deborah Feldman’s 2012 memoir Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots. While the four-part series is based on a memoir, it’s clear that it is not a critique of the Ultraorthodox Hasidic community, but a semi romantic story of a young woman who was able to escape with unique help from her mother who had also managed to escape after sole custody of Esty was legally awarded to her father.
In Unorthodox, the granting of sole custody is merely mentioned by Esty’s seemingly estranged mother but the legal process and harrowing emotional experience of, Etty Ausch, a young mother of seven who left the same Hasidic community, is greatly detailed in the documentary One of Us.
Directed by Jesus Camp creators Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, One of Us presents moments of great conflict and self awareness in the lives of Ari Hershkowitz, Luzer Twersky and Etty Ausch. While One of Us doesn’t attempt to provide a complete story of these people, it provides insight into the personal conflicts these people have had and continue to have with their Hasidic lives.
Ari Hershkowitz was seventeen years old when he decided to cut off his payos, or long curly sideburns, worn by Hasidic males. At first glance, Ari seems to be like any rebellious teenager who wants to experience the world kept from him as a child. We later learn that his desire to separate himself from the Hasidic community is rooted in his having been raped while at a Hasidic summer camp. This one event, and its subsequent dismissal, by the adults in his community lead him to the outside world where he develops a cocaine addiction and a semi return to the community after some time in rehab. Ultimately he seems to realize that he needs to recover from the community before he can fully live outside of it.
Luzer Twersky decided to leave after having secretly watched popular movies as a teenager. The movies were a siren calling to Luzer who eventually left his wife and two children behind to pursue an actor’s life in Los Angeles. After being away for years he returns for a bittersweet visit. Shunned by some, welcomed by others, Luzer exists in limbo. Looking at old photographs of his kids he finds in a box, he is like a ghost that has somehow managed to reach into the present.
Etty Ausch, trapped in a legal battle structured so that no woman can be victorious, endures stalking and assault. Aided and emotionally supported by the ex-Haredi organization Footsteps, she ends up much like Esty’s mother, divorced but with visiting rights to her children.
While Unorthodox depicts many Hasidic traditions and practices, it doesn’t delve into the nuts and bolts that make a Hasidic community, where all the women are stay at home mothers and the men seem to not have professions, financially function. One of Us details the specific personal trials three people faced once leaving the community, but it doesn’t address the lack of law enforcement in the community or the reason so many in the community live in public housing. With regard to Ari’s rape, post Spotlight and numerous cases of sexual abuse against the Catholic Church, one wonders how this community appears to be untouched by a scandal that surprises no one in his story.
The ultimate irony is that the Hasidic community is not permitted to have internet access, which is not to say some in the community won’t see these shows like Luzer Twersky secretly watched movies, but that most will not because they see so many around them who accept their segregated lives and have no interest in the outside world or in the opinions of outsiders.
The Package Review: A Teen Movie Without Soft Porn but with a Soft Severed Penis
by John Reoli
Produced by Ben Stiller and directed by Jake Szymanski this farcical romp of the classic teenage road trip is as refreshing as it is improbable.
Donnie, played Luke Spencer Roberts, has planned a spring break, bros-only weekend camping trip for his friends Jeremy Abelar and Sean Floyd played by Eduardo Franco and Daniel Doheny, respectively. While they’re packing the SUV, Jeremy’s twin sister Becky, played by Geraldine Viswanathan, and her friend Sarah, played by Sadie Calvano, show up to come along. Unbeknownst to Donnie, Jeremy had given them the okay earlier.
Once it’s settled that the girls are gonna come along, requisite romantic linkages are established in the SUV shortly after they leave the driveway. Turns out Sean and Becky almost, but not quite, had a meaningful flirtation at a cast party before he departed to study abroad in Germany the year before. Donnie and Sarah have had an on-and-off again relationship but are somewhere in between and Jeremy is in a texting, possible catfish relationship, with Kendall Jenners. That’s Jenners with and S.
The camping trip goes south almost immediately when Jeremy accidentally severs his penis while playing with a butterfly knife while peeing. Jeremy gets outs of the woods by helicopter but his friends must hike out with his severed penis which was mistakenly left behind in an identical beer cooler. From here it’s a plot of rather inventive obstacles to get the penis to Jeremy who’s waiting in a local hospital for reattachment surgery before it’s too late. One obstacle involves a rattlesnake and a hackneyed joke as if the movie needs a snake metaphor with a flaccid severed penis flying across the screen every ten minutes.
All’s well that ends well, physically and romantically, for all parties involved.
The Package is a fun diversion with wacky locals and normal teens, unique in its absence of gratuitous nudity and sex, except for a little actual porn, and a cast that looks like people you went to high school with. The kid with the drone is priceless. A shout out to the supporting cast, as well. The Package is a great movie to decompress to.
