M. was once a very important man, the kind everyone knows and cherishes. A man whose picture was hung in schools, offices and bases. M. was known as a jaded politician. He took pictures with babies and arranged jobs,
had a bureau, employees who disobeyed him, and connections in the high windows. Heads of state lined up to shake his hand and women sought his closeness.
M. was not born with a golden spoon in his mouth. All his life he fought discrimination, and against all odds made his way from the transit camp to the president's residence. When M. looks in the mirror, he sees a man who helped those in need, dedicated his life to doing things
and raised a wonderful family. If you ask M., this is the truth he would like to remember, as he wrote it in a book about his life.
Yaakov Zeda Daniel as Moshe Katzav, Cinematography: Tzachi Zelniker
To this day, M. is convinced that he is haunted. That the media burned him and that the women's lobby hung him naked in the town square. M. is certain that he is a victim of the white elite, who sewed him a bag to block his ambition to become prime minister. So he never apologized for his actions, and never confessed to them even when he was offered a plea deal that would have saved him from prison.
As such, M. must be curious to watch a series based on his scandals. And not only him – the entire State of Israel wants to get into his underwear, and the drama that emerged on Yes satisfies this demand. If M watches "Alf," he will learn that the president in the series is completely different from the M he thinks is looking at him from the mirror - narcissist, drunk with power, serial sex offender, aggressive and manipulator, horny and evil.
When Mr. M. looks at his television character (played by Jacob Zeda Daniel), he will not recognize himself. It's his side again, versus her side.
The series tells the story from the perspective of Odelia Carmon,
"Aleph" tells the story from the perspective of Odelia Carmon (A. from the Ministry of Transport) and the other victims of the president. Carmon is signed as one of the creators of the series, and the script was built according to her memoir. Over the course of six
episodes, the drama mediates the sexual assaults, the gaslighting and humiliation experienced by the girls, the public blackening campaign and social pressure.
She explains why they were in no hurry to complain and why they continued to work alongside him, and recounts their mental breakdown.
The blurring between the scripted fiction and the real events. It originates from the difference between his word and hers. But ultimately, it is television that establishes a public narrative and shapes history.
Because of this, a viewer like M. will be shocked to see his legacy shaped in the image of one of the most threatening and sickening villains ever seen in an Israeli series.
"Aleph" is an important series because it chooses its side, and does not try to be stately or pretty. She kicks the patriarchal world, and does so in a confrontation with the police, scenes on the couch in
her office and in the back seat of the survivor's car. She makes it clear that victims should no longer be ashamed – shame must stick with villains. If M. and people like him watch "Aleph" and are ashamed of themselves, the goal has been achieved.
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