Trailer for the series "Hanshi" (HOT)
A young American woman, ultra-Orthodox from Brooklyn, who is on the verge of fulfilling the Jewish dream of marrying a good match that her family loves, suddenly decides to run away, and without telling anyone gets on a plane to the Holy Land.
What is she running from?
This young woman, it turns out, has other dreams, and is torn between the restrictive world in which she grew up and her need for freedom and self-actualization.
Apparently this is a story we have heard many times and seen it play out in movies and series more than once.
But the series in front of us does not for a moment try to hide that our heroine is not escaping from a cruel life, and is not motivated by some lofty search for spiritual repentance, but by a much simpler motive - lust.
It quickly becomes clear that Hanshi, in the excellent and complex portrayal of series creator Aliza Hanovich, is not running away from something, but running towards something - she strives to distance herself from her life, her community and the legality within which she grew up, in order to get closer to what she imagines as the ultimate happiness - life in Israel.
Yes, in the eyes of Hanxi, our small country, many of whose inhabitants find innumerable flaws in it and are only looking for a way to escape from it, has endless sex-appeal.
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Admirable grace.
Aliza Hanovich and friends, "Hanshi" (Photo: Vared Adir)
She arrives in Israel and looks around her, and everything is stunning in her eyes - ugly Jerusalem, shawarma in her mouth at some stand, and above all, every passing Israeli man, even if he just went down to take out the garbage, does it to her hugely.
She has some image of herself in her head as a "real" Israeli, one who sits and smokes on windowsills and freely flirts with men with an oriental appearance, and she doesn't waste a second from the moment her plane lands on the Holy Land and immediately starts being that woman.
Believe me, the men of Jerusalem do not know what has befallen them, now that Hanshi is wandering the streets of the city with the clear aim of finding them and fulfilling the fantasy of the handsome Israeli soldier-warrior who takes his virginity against the tank.
But don't be mistaken and think that there is something romantic in her dream.
One of the interesting things about this very fascinating character is that she is not romantic at all.
She rushes towards the fulfillment of her desires like a rhinoceros in amok, seeing no one in the rain.
No wonder the series is named after her - Hanshi is the only protagonist in the story of her life, and she doesn't see anyone else, not even the ones she claims to love.
This is not a weak woman who came from a place that reduced her and limited her, on the contrary, she seems to come from a life of abundance and a loving family (her father is played by Henry Winkler in an exciting guest role, and next to him is the wonderful Caroline Aaron from "The Wonderful Mrs. Maisel", both veteran and prominent American actors).
Her intended groom is not some horrible man they force her to accept, but a guy (at least according to the first four episodes that have been transferred to watch) handsome, thoughtful and loves her.
Still, Hanshi doesn't want to settle for just being a part of who she is, she wants to be 130% herself.
And she always gets what she wants.
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An exciting guest role.
Henry Winkler with Hanovitch, "Hanshi" (Photo: Vared Adir)
Hanshi is exactly the kind of character who is completely unbearable, but grows fond of you while watching, and steals into your heart against your will.
She is infuriatingly selfish, manipulative, and disappoints those close to her, such as Noki (Marnina Shawn), her best friend, who is Hanshi's official excuse for her visit to Israel.
Noki is actually exactly the same classic character we mentioned at the beginning - the ultra-Orthodox woman who is about to marry someone she doesn't really know despite all her fears.
She really needs a good friend right now, but unfortunately she has Hanshi, who is more interested in finding a handsome wounded IDF soldier to comfort, than accompanying her to dress measurements or a mikvah. So if she is so horrible, why is she also so fun? How is it that we are all Is it captives by magic?
Because there is a lot to learn from my people.
She is fearless.
She can't see with her eyes.
Few of us are capable, let alone capable, of such a commitment to being our "authentic selves", and going after what we want with such fervor.
We all compromise at some point in life.
But not Khanshi.
Yes, she is selfish but it's hard not to empathize with her because she obviously lies to herself as well.
At the same time she is both annoying and ridiculous in how fascinated she is with Israel, and also just cute and amusing in her bulldozing.
The character works on the audience and makes us love her in exactly the same way that Hanshi in the series works on the people around her and gets everything she wants - she exhausts them until they surrender.
She has no awareness of other people's boundaries, or she just doesn't care.
So she moves the line a little more and a little more until it is crossed.
Thus she is always the dominant in every relationship, in every scene of the series.
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Accurate and - well, melancholic.
Marnina Shawn, "Hanshi" (Photo: screenshot, HOT)
It's easy to focus on the horny side of the story and see only the sexual journey of the ultra-Orthodox young woman who arrived in the small town of her dreams, but this series is much deeper than it tries to sell you.
Although Hanshi as a character subverts the conventional representation of the woman who runs away from life in ultra-Orthodox society (or any society that restricts her), the series still tests the limits of freedom from all sides, for men versus women, for singles versus singles, and especially at different points in religious Jewish society.
At a certain point we get a glimpse of a kind of lifestyle that represents the so-called absolute freedom, in the no-man's land of the settlements, where we meet a man who lives the absolute freedom as far as he is concerned, in some hole in the middle of nowhere where he is the only ruler (along with his silent and accepting wife).
The meeting between him and Hanshi - who is the exact opposite of the little woman and is not really able to keep her mouth shut, but is definitely interested in exploring life without any limitations - is interesting and dangerous.
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Aliza Hanovitch takes this complexity and holds the series together with admirable grace, with a wonderful cast of actors by her side (the excellent Tomer Mhalof who evokes amounts of empathy; the precise and charming Marnina Schon, and many more surprising ones).
"Hanshi" is an excellent combination of Israeli and American production, it manages to be a lot of both, and feel correct and authentic in both languages, in both cultures.
Hanovitch created a funny and witty series, which constantly manages to surprise, and it was a real bummer when the four episodes (out of ten) that I received for early viewing from Hot were over.
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Hanxi
Aliza Hanovich
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