We praise a series that did something really interesting.
Spoilers for ‘Hunters’ season 2
There is a similar relationship between Jews and survival; our ability to survive, our longevity, is often cited as our greatest strength. As one reviewer wrote (in a critic otherwise on point): “Hunters is a compelling, action-packed drama about the resilience of a people who looked down on pure evil and refused to do anything but endure.”
At first, the phrase reads like a compliment, but the more you think about it, the more it feels like criticism with mild praise (or worse). “He refused to do anything but endure” implies passivity in the Jewish people. We endure, but we do not act.
The idea of survival tied to passivity has permeated Judaism for centuries and is a trait that has been manipulated by both sides. It forces us to do nothing (keep your head down, you’ll survive) and fuels anti-Semites: Jews are like cockroaches, capable of surviving anything.
Flying in the face of this assessment of our character, ‘Hunters’ arms the Jews with will and weapons. In this way, it’s actually a “compelling, action-packed drama about the resistance of a people who looked down on pure evil” and actually decided to do something about it.
Many people have made comparisons between ‘Hunters’ and ‘Inglourious Basterds’, and we would even agree that the latter balances the moody tones better than the Amazon Prime TV series. Still, there is substance woven into the fibers of “Hunters,” and season two makes fun of those threads even more pointedly.
Both envision a world in which revenge is exacted against the incarnation of evil, Adolf Hitler. In Tarantino’s film, Hitler is machine-gunned by American Jewish soldiers and then reduced to ashes in a movie theater by French Holocaust survivor Shoshanna (Melanie Laurent).
‘Hunters’ takes a more measured approach and delves further into its themes of revenge and justice: Jonah doesn’t kill Hitler, but instead takes him to the International Criminal Court to be tried for crimes against humanity. The question this raises is: what is justice?
In episode one, Jennifer’s Girl Jason Leigh tells an Austrian store owner that God gave her eyes so she could see evil and do something about it. By looking away from her while the Jews in her town were rounded up and then seizing one of her shops, she has forfeited her eyes. Chava removes them (offscreen) and places them on a butter statue in the plaza.
This corny moment of violence is vindictive on a visceral level, and while tonally it may not mesh with the rest of the series’ more serious musings on the nature of justice and morality, it provides a glorious moment of “schadenfreude”: victory over degrade our torturers.
The second season of ‘Hunters’ isn’t perfect (although the penultimate episode is one of the best on recent television), but it does something unique: it gives the Jewish characters a lot of nuance, including being the hero. As series star Logan Lerman told esquire: “I think it says a lot about his symbolism, a young Jewish character kicking ass and being the action hero. I thought that was really cool.”
Importantly, while dealing with the aftermath of the Holocaust, both seasons of Hunters deal with the legacy of anti-Semitism and how it is perpetuated. Hitler may have had his comeuppance, but neo-Nazism is still on the rise: Travis has escaped and Jonah’s fight is eternal. Evil is still alive.
For season two’s misses, its jarring time jumps and tonal whiplash, it has plenty of strengths, particularly thanks to its cast. Each is another shifting mosaic in the kaleidoscope lens through which we view the impacts of racism and anti-Semitism (and their intersection). Sometimes the view is bewildering, but often it is breathtaking.
Many stories of Jewish trauma and subsequent survival are told with a beginning, middle, and end, particularly stories of the Holocaust. We start by being detained, in the middle some of us are killed and some of us survive, and in the end, we are released.
Showrunner David Weil seems to know that this is sanitized, gentle-savior storytelling, a mode of storytelling that boxes Jews into the category of passive, helpless, hapless survivors. ‘Hunters’ is the antidote to this narrative and is more than welcome.
Hunters seasons 1 and 2 are available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
