The American lifestyle and fashion magazine Vogue features a lengthy interview with Israeli actress Shira Haas in its latest issue.
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Haas, 24, is the star of the Netflix hit Unorthodox, which revolves around the life of an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic woman, Esty, who rebels against her community's strict prohibitions.
The show's dialogues are mainly in Yiddish, but despite being focused on a lifestyle not known to many around in the world, including Jews, Unorthodox has been a remarkable success among viewers, who wanted to glean insights into the haredi world and understand their way of life.
Beanie Feldstein, who conducted the interview asked Haas, "What does it feel like to be a part of the new Netflix generation of shows?"
Haas provides the following answer:
"It is really amazing and it was a surprise. I can really feel the love. I always believed in the show and the role that I did, but, as you know, you can never tell what is going to happen with the thing that you are doing. I can't take it for granted that so many people all around the world – no matter what their religion is, not necessarily Jewish, or secular – connected to the show and to Esty. The fact that it is has touched so many people and that it is universal is such an amazing thing. It is everything you could ask for as an artist. The highest form of connecting is art. If you just heard about the show or a story about someone like Esty on the news, maybe some people would say, 'Oh, those people,' but once you see the show you're like, 'She is like me' – not only Esty but also different people as well."
Haas agreed that South Korean director, Bong Joon Ho, whose movie Parasite won Best Picture in the Oscars this year, got it right when he said that "if you can look past the subtitles, you can learn so much about so many different people."
According to Haas, "it is a new thing for many people. Maybe a few years ago maybe the show would have been done, but not in Yiddish, for example. There are now so many different TV series on Netflix in so many different languages and cultures. Over the past few years, people have become way more open to it and people want to see someone who is different from them and realize, 'Yes, it is a specific story, but I can relate to it,' or "He is different from me, but he is a human being and I understand." I think young people – at least I do want to see that and not necessarily themselves all the time."
