In a few weeks’ time, on February 26 to be exact, Israel will for the tenth time compete in the Best Foreign Film category at the Academy Awards. After nine years of going home empty-handed, will this be the year Israel proudly carries the gold statuette? Unfortunately it doesn’t look like it. Most bookies are putting their money on Iran’s “A Separation”, but who knows, maybe Israel’s Footnote will be the surprise win.
While Israel’s lack of Oscar is a sore point, where the country has undoubtably succeeded is on the silver screen. If imitation is indeed the highest form of praise, then Israel is high up on Hollywood’s pedestal. Two of the most successful and highly acclaimed cable shows of recent years have been based on Israeli television series.
This past fall’s Homeland, a psychological thriller based around a returning POW, is based on Hatufim, and Israeli show created by Gideon Raff about soldiers returning from the Lebanon War. Like Raff’s series, Homeland explores what happens to soldiers who are behind enemy lines for years on end. Do they return with the same identity they had upon embarking on their mission?
Though Showtime’s Homeland takes its basic premise from the Israeli series, it’s a very different show. Whereas as Hatufim focuses solely on the POWs – an issue incidentally very close to the Israeli psyche – Homeland’s story is as much about the CIA agent obsessively suspicious of the returning POW and his role in a possible terrorist plot. The real thrust of the show is the psychology behind the cat-and-mouse chase that ensues.
In contrast, the other recent series inspired by Israel, HBO’s In Treatment, is lifted almost directly from its Israeli predecessor, BeTipul. The unique format remains unchanged: the viewers follow a psychiatrist’s treatment of a rota of patients, the twist being that one of these patients is himself. By the end of the season, we’ve completed the therapy process of his five (in the HBO version four) patients.
In the first season, much of the dialogue mimics the Israeli version and both the characters’ backstories and their relationships with the psychiatrist remain faithful to BeTipul. Of course many small details are changed; obviously the context is totally different. For example in BeTipul, the pilot’s father is a Holocaust survivor; there is no equivalent background provided for the same character on In Treatment.
Have you seen both – or either – versions of these shows? Which did you find better, or more believable? The general consensus is that Homeland is a lot more exciting and fast-paced than Hatufim, though Hatufim was well-received in Israel and picked up Israel’s Emmy equivalent for best drama series; meanwhile on this side of the Atlantic, Homeland swept the Golden Globes, winning best drama series and both best actress and best actor! BeTipul also swept Israeli awards and In Treatment picked up a few along its run.
If you’re a viewer, what’s your opinion? Did Israel merely provide the basis for better American versions? Or did the Israeli story-telling triumph?
