There are few films and even fewer TV series about Ethiopian-Israelis, so Indar, a new Hot series that focuses on a group of Ethiopian youth in Ashdod, is breaking new ground. Available on Next TV and Hot VOD, and set to premiere Thursdays at 10pm on Hot 3 from June 20, the series aims to be Israel’s version of The Wire.
The film shows how Ethiopian youth, especially young men, facing limited futures turn to crime, are preyed upon by corrupt police officers, helped or ignored by political and religious authorities, and exploited when the media sees an opportunity.
The main character is Indar (Yaniv Armenci), who clearly states his beliefs at the beginning of the first episode: “Our parents have always been kind. So what? If we don’t become violent, our parents will continue to treat us like monkeys that came down from the tree.”
Indar is smart and has movie-star good looks, but fails to understand that violence is not a way out, but a way down. His uneducated parents think that beating him is the best way to deal with him, as does his brother (Adam Kanada), a security agency agent and a big winner in the rough neighborhood who helps him out of trouble. Indar is interested in Selam (Edan Saban), a girl from the neighborhood. Selam is studying and hopes to get out of the neighborhood that way, but we learn that he must have been in trouble a lot during his school days. He works stripping cars for parts in a company run by an ultra-Orthodox man who seems to be connected to some kind of criminal organization. A complicated series of events leads to the death of one of Indar’s friends at the hands of Alon (Shai Hai), a violent police officer who has had a grudge against Indar and his friends since childhood.
When TV journalist Dana (Agham Rudberg from Rehearsals, Temporary Dead) arrives to investigate the case, Indal and friends greet her with initial hostility, but according to the first three episodes released to the press, she continues her investigation. Her fellow officers, including Aron and Alex (Daniel Styopin, who plays Anatoly in Check Out and is so likable I think his character will be the first to admit wrongdoing), run a brothel and are involved in other criminal activity. Wreck is quirky and suspenseful. (Credit: YES)
Like The Wire, it takes a while to figure out who the characters are and what they mean to each other; the more you get to know them, the more interesting each episode becomes. The series is created by Indar Kebede and Oli Weisbrod and directed by Assaf Koman (Next to Her), and is inspired by Kebede’s own experiences; he rose to celebrity status in 2017 when he appeared on Big Brother alongside model Eden Saban. Kebede has spoken about the difficulties of casting mostly non-professional actors in Indar, as there just weren’t enough Ethiopian actors of the right age.
While not surprising for a series with this theme, Indal is extremely violent from the opening scene, and viewers should be forewarned. There’s really no way to tell this story without violence, and it’s pretty graphic. But I was hooked on this series, and I’m excited to see how it unfolds when the remaining eight episodes of the season are released.
What other shows can you see in Israel?
Many will be happy to see the flying dragons and somber dialogue of House of the Dragon return for Season 2 (currently available on Hot, Yes, and Cellcom TV). But I’m even more excited to see Wreck return for Season 2 on Yes VOD, Sting TV, Hot VOD, Next TV starting June 20th, and on Hot HBO in July. Wreck is a quirky, suspenseful, and often comical British series about Jamie (Oscar Kennedy), whose sister, who also works on a cruise ship, is mysteriously killed and he joins the crew to try to discover what really happened to her. It’s always seemed like a lot of strange stuff was bound to happen on a ship like this, and Season 1 confirmed that and then some.
Season 2, which is enjoyable even if you haven’t seen season 1, moves the action on land and ups the horror factor: the unscrupulous corporation that runs the cruise line is now running an equally nefarious wellness festival in Slovenia, and Jamie and friends set out to expose it.
If the idea of a wellness festival is a bit creepy for you, you’ll enjoy this season as Jamie reunites with his fellow boat crew from season one. As expected, several of them enjoy the money they’ve made from signing silence and non-disclosure agreements with the company, investing in luxury homes and extensive plastic surgery. But after something horrifying happens at a training session for the wellness festival and one witness flees, the gang is once again on a quest for the truth. It’s worth forewarning that the first episode of season two features a scene featuring a drugged body at the festival. The scene is brief but disturbing, and for some, it may not be a good fit for the show’s dark humor right now.
This series may sound too outlandish for you, but the best way to motivate you to give it a try is to point out that it passed my 10-minute test. The first time I checked to see how far I had gone, it was well over 10 minutes. Very few series pass this test. Usually, I check the time after 5 minutes.
Mean Girls is a film that never needed a remake, but its recent remake has many people revisiting the 2004 original. It’s available on Netflix and Apple TV+ (which also offers the new version). Co-written and co-starring Tina Fey and directed by Mark Waters, the original has held up incredibly well and features one of Lindsay Lohan’s best performances, as well as her dual role in The Parent Trap.
For those who haven’t seen or don’t remember the film, Lohan plays Kady, a girl who has just moved to suburban Illinois after being homeschooled by idealistic parents in Africa, and in this mismatched comedy, she has no idea what’s in store for her. What’s fascinating about the film is that it exploits both the desire to be popular and the desire to call out the shallowness of those who are more popular than you, a theme Fey has explored many times. At first, Kady befriends two outsiders, Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and Damien (Daniel Franzese), but then she’s taken in by the Plastics, the group from which the film takes its name, played by Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, and Lacey Chabert. Though Kady tells herself she’s only infiltrating them to help Janis bring them down, she enjoys being one of the high school queens until she finds out she’s not having fun. It turns out that there’s a seed of nastiness inside Kady, and all of us, and while goodness often prevails, it’s fun to watch it unfold. It’s hard not to feel joyous when you see the mechanics of how the Plastics work and discover that there is a hierarchy within the group as well.
“Mean Girls” will have you either nostalgic for the strict social norms of your high school days or happy that you no longer have to suffer like them: Caplan, McAdams and Seyfried have all gone on to become big stars, and Fey stars as an exasperating divorced math teacher.
