Beauty Queen of Jerusalem - Worth Watching? Not Sure

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Amarante

Mon, May 30 2022, 4:05 pm

I am half way through the first episode of the television series The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem.

It seems very silly and melodramatic. The reviews are mixed but they claim this was an incredibly popular show on Israel.

I am not snobby about a well done soap opera as they can be fun but so far it doesn't seem worth spending 10 hours with this show - unless it starts improving/

Last edited by Amarante on Tue, May 31 2022, 9:15 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Peach

Mon, May 30 2022, 4:07 pm

I couldn't get through the first episode. First of all, I hate watching dubbed shows. I'd prefer subtitles. But aside from that it seemed very contrived and over the top.

Amarante

Mon, May 30 2022, 4:13 pm

amother [ Peach ] wrote:

I couldn't get through the first episode. First of all, I hate watching dubbed shows. I'd prefer subtitles. But aside from that it seemed very contrived and over the top.

Well subtitles aren't the issue for me since I am using closed captions LOL

I guess we have the same feelings about it in terms of it just seeming like an old fashioned melodrama - and not in a good way.

Some of the reviews have treated it very "seriously" in terms of feeling it completely ignored any kind of important history in lieu of the ridiculous melodrama.

Also - and I am not sure if Israelis care but there was some criticism for casting Ashkenazi actors in critical roles depicting Sephardic Jews.

amother

Brickred

Mon, May 30 2022, 10:56 pm

I watched the whole thing and liked it! Wasn’t sure about it at first but now I’m really looking forward to part 2. Found the family dynamics very interesting (but so painful for Rosa). Also, I haven’t seen any other movies/shows in this setting so that was refreshing.

amother

NeonPurple

Tue, May 31 2022, 5:02 am

Amarante wrote:

Well subtitles aren't the issue for me since I am using closed captions LOL

I watched a few episodes and enjoyed them, and will probably finish the rest at some point. So obv not the most engrossing show but still good. Obviously gorgeous background scenery, the actors are pretty good, ok storyline so far. No idea how realistic is historically but I am sure it is true that British soldiers dated local girls. Also watching it with subtitles, I didn't even know there was a dubbed verson. My hebrew is ok enough to understand some of it and I tell myself I am not wasting time, I am improving my hebrew lol. They do talk ladino some of the time.

I suspect it is a better story in the written version.

Shtisel has a sefardi actor playing an ashkenazi so I guess it goes both ways.

What type of sefardim are they in this show exactly?

One thing I like is that these are not obviously very frum people talking about things like mikva.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, May 31 2022, 5:09 am

amother [ Peach ] wrote:

I couldn't get through the first episode. First of all, I hate watching dubbed shows. I'd prefer subtitles. But aside from that it seemed very contrived and over the top.

If you are watching on netflix, you can change that. I hate dubbed as well, so I changed it to hebrew with english subtitles (as some of the speaking was in turkish)
But I couldnt get past the first episode as I thought the acting was not so great, to be honest.

SuperWify

Tue, May 31 2022, 5:28 am

I loved it. The MIL is so on point. Yes, it’s melodramatic but it is a soap opera.

amother

White

Tue, May 31 2022, 5:56 am

The book is engaging at first and had hopes for it but had to give up on it before even a quarter of the way through it. Too bad. Sounded promising. Nope. Save yourself the money.

amother

Yellow

Tue, May 31 2022, 6:12 am

I started watching it when it was first came out in Israel last year. There was a fair bit of hype surrounding its release but I was pretty disappointed. I did not like the acting at all, nor did I like the sets....it all felt a bit amateur. Apart from the main characters and a few key events it was not really faithful to the novel. I did not watch it all.

amother

Marigold

Tue, May 31 2022, 6:47 am

SuperWify wrote:

I loved it. The MIL is so on point. Yes, it’s melodramatic but it is a soap opera.

Omg really? She’s so so awful! MIL from hell!

We are 6 episodes in and really enjoying! But full disclosure I know little to nothing about sefardi culture or history of that place at that time.

amother

Azure

Fri, Jul 01 2022, 3:56 am

I've tried twice (reached Episode 4) but I'm done now. Very disappointed because I was looking forward to it!

SuperWify

Fri, Jul 01 2022, 9:25 am

amother [ Marigold ] wrote:

Omg really? She’s so so awful! MIL from hell!

We are 6 episodes in and really enjoying! But full disclosure I know little to nothing about sefardi culture or history of that place at that time.

She’s a gross exaggeration of a Sephardic MIL in that era.

I thought about this show and I don’t love it anymore. The characters were interesting but I just don’t get the point of the storyline.

amother

White

Fri, Jul 01 2022, 10:23 am

Nope

amother

Maple

Fri, Jul 01 2022, 10:34 am

amother [ NeonPurple ] wrote:

It's definitely true that British soldiers dated local girls.
This is a bad thing because when you mix some truth into the lie, it makes the lie believable.
The truth is there were relationships between young British soldiers and Jewish girls, some even went on to have families.
The lie is the way the Jewish soldiers committed terrorist attacks. Before the bombing of the King David hotel the Irgun tried to warn the British to evacuate but nobody listened. The Beauty Queen writers make the Jews fighting for independence look like a bunch of terrorists and the British are upstanding citizens. They also always give the Arab characters that extra chein and show they were really good people.
The other lie is the running spectacle of weird superstitious practice that has nothing to do with Judaism.
The main problem I had watching was that I ended up hating the two main characters, Gabriel Ermoza and his daughter Luna. In general the acting was meh and the jumpimg from one time period to another was annoying.

amother

White

Fri, Jul 01 2022, 10:48 am

Uch
Yes you got it maple