‘The Escape’ makes its debut, ‘Shalom’ enchants - review

The biggest news on Israeli TV this week is the premiere of "The Escape," the new, all-star series on Channel 12. Based on the opening episode, which can also be streamed on mako.co.il, it’s tense and suspenseful.

It’s also a cautionary tale about why authorities shouldn't look the other way when a cult leader gains too much power. It feels like a mix of The Handmaid’s Tale, "Shtisel," and one of the movies about the 1978 Jonestown massacre.

Keshet 12 produced the series, and Keshet International is set to distribute it internationally.

"The Escape" stars Ido Tako, who just won the Ophir Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the movie Where To, as Yoel, a young man born into a sect that, despite a disclaimer, will remind many of the Lev Tahor cult.

Like that group, the cult in the series preaches an extreme version of ultra-Orthodox observance and has moved its members out of Israel and into the Colombian jungle. Yoel has grown up in this cult from a young age, but he is clearly unhappy there.

He sees other members of the group punished brutally for minuscule infractions, such as taking two slices of bread at a meal, and wants a different life for his son, Nachman. The child gazes at the stream by their compound and asks where it flows. When his father explains the concept of an ocean, he is fascinated, and it is obvious he has lived his whole life in this compound.

Yoel lives with the other men, although he is married to Feigi (Naya Beinstock, who appears in the movie Matchmaking 3). Men and women are strictly segregated, except when husbands and wives can “fulfill a commandment” together on the Sabbath.

Yoel does not seem impressed with the group’s leader (Mark Evanir), who talks about blessings and purity but rules with an iron hand. If the title didn’t give it away, Yoel and his family are planning a jailbreak.

Another major character is Carmeli (Yehuda Levi, who became a star over 20 years ago in Yossi & Jagger and has recently appeared in Trust No One and A Body that Works), a Mossad agent who, at the start of the series, is in a Colombian city.

There, he rescues an Israeli arrested on drug charges from a hospital. A complicated backstory involving his family in Israel is hinted at, and he seems to be the latest incarnation of the brave, workaholic, emotionally stunted covert operative we are used to seeing from so many dramas. But Levi’s charisma breathes new life into what might otherwise have been an overly formulaic character.

The series, which was filmed in Colombia, Georgia, and Israel, was created and written by Ariel Cohen for Keshet 12 alongside Yoav and Doron Paz, who also directed. The three collaborated on the movie The Golem, and the Paz brothers also made Plan A and Jeruzalem, the zombies-in-the-Old-City movie.

They carefully create a foreboding atmosphere and make you instantly root for Yoel and his family. In the coming weeks, we'll see what twists and turns "The Escape" has in store for us.

New 'Shalom' film tells story of Jerusalem biblical zoo rhinoceros

The touching movie Shalom, by Meital Zvieli, airs on KAN 11 on October 17 and will then be available on kan.org.il. It tells the story of Shalom, the beloved rhinoceros at Jerusalem’s biblical zoo (officially called the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens), but it's about so much more.

The movie uses the zookeepers’ relationships with the animals very effectively to symbolize the delicate reality of coexistence in the capital. It is beautiful in all the ways a movie can be: moving, wonderfully photographed, and using a simple device to tell a far more complex story.

Shalom came to the zoo just as the 1978 Camp David Accords were being signed. When the film opens, in the early 2020s, he’s tired. The Jews and Muslims on the staff are drawn together by their love for him and their desire to help him when his health begins to fail.

Some may remember the excellent children’s film shown in the Noah’s Ark exhibit at the zoo, and will recognize Rushdi Alyan (the main human protagonist in Shalom) and Gilad Moshe, two of the zookeepers who appear in it and are among the interviewees in both movies. They work together again in this new documentary, and it seems that, against all odds, their bond has grown stronger over the years.

Part of the movie covers the difficult period following the Hamas-led invasion and massacres in Israel on October 7, 2023, and shows how the animals are affected by the missiles fired near the zoo. As the Israel-Hamas War intensifies, Shalom becomes ill, and at the same time, many zookeepers are sent off to fight in Gaza. One of them quips, “The whole world keeps asking me, ‘Where’s Shalom?’”

For many years, I used to visit the zoo in Jerusalem every week with my son, who is on the autism spectrum. I know what it’s like to become attached to these animals and to find calm in this oasis of coexistence and harmony in a city, and a world, roiled by so many conflicts, so I could relate to every minute in this documentary.

But even if you don't share my deep connection to this place or respect for the people who run it, watching Shalom will still be an emotionally resonant experience. Hats off to Meital Zvieli for giving this unique, lovely part of Jerusalem the cinematic treatment it deserves.

New 'Cupertino' series running across Israeli TV providers

"Cupertino" is a new series from Robert and Michelle King, the husband-and-wife duo behind "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight," and it’s currently running on Hot 3, Hot VOD, Next TV, Yes VOD, and Cellcom TV.

Fans of both shows, especially "The Good Wife," which set a new standard for witty, topical legal drama, have been looking forward to "Cupertino" because it aims to be a cross between "The Good Wife" and "Silicon Valley."

Unfortunately, though, based on the series pilot, which was released to the press, it brings to mind more the clunky, short-lived "BrainDead," a series by the Kings that tried to combine comedy, political humor, and sci-fi horror in a series that didn’t work in any of these genres.

On paper, the premise of "Cupertino" sounds great: Two recently fired lawyers who worked at Silicon Valley tech companies start their own law firm, specializing in defending wrongly terminated Davids against tech Goliaths. It also delves into issues raised by the development of AI.

Mike Colter, who was so good as the charismatic but scary drug lord Lemond Bishop on "The Good Wife," stars as Michael Price, a tech co-founder and lawyer who suddenly finds himself on the street when his partner decides not to share the wealth.

Colter is always good, but here he seems blander than I’ve ever seen him. Blandness is also a problem with his co-star, Rachel Keller as Olivia, a religious Christian lawyer at the same company, who is sexually harassed by her boss but decides to sue because the company’s AI avatar has been based on her.

The jokes and the plotting are painfully obvious much of the time, but I’ll try to keep an open mind and hope things pick up in subsequent episodes.