Film Report Cultura Estadounidense 45720 Sergio Luis Bravo Flores.

Unorthodox
This story takes place in an ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist Hasidic Jewish community
called Satmar and basically, it is the story of a girl who grows up in this community
and marries a boy, she has some problems getting pregnant and in her marriage;
because of this she wants to leave the Jewish community and live her life, find her
own way. The plot is very simple however I think the most interesting thing about
this series is how it shows the culture and daily life of this particular Jewish group.
This Hasidic Jewish community called Satmar was almost annihilated in World War
II, which is why despite living in New York they live practically in seclusion. They
use the Yiddish language, which is the same language they have used for
decades. All adult women have shaved heads and wear wigs since hair is
synonymous with eroticism and they can only show it to their husbands. Another
important aspect is the women's clothing, all the women in the series show almost
nothing of their bodies, they even wear cloths on their heads to cover their wigs.
Once married, no man other than her husband can touch the woman. This is
reflected in the wedding scene where the rabbi gives a ribbon to the bride and
each holds it at one end. To end the wedding ritual without touching the newlywed,
even glances are avoided.
After Esti's wedding another of the most interesting aspects of the series comes
up, sex, Esti and her husband only have sex on Fridays at the beginning of the
Sabbath and all other days they sleep in separate beds. Esti and her husband
have problems finishing the sexual act which leads them to have some problems
because by not having good sex they cannot have children. They see sex as
something normal since it is the means to have children, in the series it is shown
how the whole family is concerned in the sexual relations of this new marriage.
A celebration that is shown in the series is the Jewish Passover in which entire
families gather to share food to celebrate the departure of the Jewish people from
Egypt in ancient times. In this celebration, it is forbidden to eat leavened flour, so
they cover everything with aluminium foil to avoid leaving traces of food that may
be contaminated. Putting aluminium foil over everything means that everything is
clean and pure.
This community, despite living in New York City, lives very austerely and with the
basics, for example, they do not have telephones with internet, television or radio.
The community has a strong sense of togetherness as they only relate to each
other. They can only marry members of the community and marriages are
arranged, both the bride and groom's families are aware of what is going on with
the marriage arrangement.
One of the most distinctive things about this series and shown in the male
characters are in the men's hair and hats. The men let their hair grow on the sides
of their heads in compliance with a precept of Jewish law. In the same way, they let
 Film Report Cultura Estadounidense 45720 Sergio Luis Bravo Flores.

their beards grow to show respect to God and to differentiate themselves from non-
Jews. They wear hats according to the occasion, some are common, but for
example in the celebration of the Jewish Passover, they wear big hats covered with
hair. They all wear a small hat called a kippah on top of their head, to represent
respect to God and that he is on a higher level than them.
There are a few more aspects that I could comment on because I think the series
reveals many of the most important aspects of this community and to think that this
community is only one of many that makeup Judaism. When I saw the series I
immediately went to investigate a little more about all the meanings that things had
and they were really very interesting.
On the other hand, the case of Esti seems good to me in a way because she did
not want to belong to this community, she wanted to find her own way and live her
own life and I think we all have that right.