‘The Lesson’: Deakla Keydar and Eitan Zur Talk Canneseries Buzz Title
Progressive and passionate civics teacher Amir (Doron Ben-David) seeks to dispel the broad stereotypes his class paints of their Arab neighbors after brazen and troubled teen Leanne (Maya Landsmann) incites her peers in class to her rallying call of “Kill the Arabs” while presenting an unsettling scenario for a class project: Bar Arabs from a local swimming pool.
Extolling the virtues of empathy is no small feat, however. Amir soon finds himself caught up in a viral conflict with Leanne that calls his character into question and speaks to the often-hasty and out-of-context judgment the populace is eager to make when hard-pressed to do the right thing.
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“The Lesson,” an all-encompassing six-episode socio-political drama produced by Yochanan Kredo at Jasmine TV for Israeli broadcaster Kan 11, takes a gripping plunge – confirmed by huge figures on Kan 11 – into various forms of prejudice and the way they spread and seed within a community.
Written by Deakla Keydar and directed by Eitan Zur (“Asylum City”) the cast is rounded out by Leib Lev Levin, Alma Zak, and Dvir Benedek with Federation Entertainment heading up international sales.
Alongside its competition at Canneseries, Keydar and Zur spoke with Variety about the episodic and working together to get from script to screen.
The adolescent characters are tightly written. The sentiments of wanting to belong, doing things you might not do to impress those around you, that awkward sense of longing for attention. How did you manage the actors to engage with the script so fully?
Keydar: I had a connection with Maya, at this exact level. She really understood this awkwardness. I knew that feeling well when I was a teenager. Maya experienced the same thing. She wasn’t the star of her school, she knew exactly what I was talking about.
Zur: Also she’s 29. We were afraid that it wouldn’t work, but it worked perfectly.
How did you find working together so closely on the series?
Zur: On set, it should be one clear voice; this is a process that we learned together. It was nice, also Deakla gave me a lot of space and we collaborated a lot on the script. If it was that natural, it’s going to work the same way during the shooting. In a way, Deakla, represented Maya; and I represented Amir
You discussed some of the initial reactions to the series from audiences in Israel. Were they what you expected?
Keydar: I went to an integrative public school for a presentation. One of the Arabic students told me, “Wow, how can a teacher talk like that to students? That is so insulting, so humiliating.” Then I asked him, “You’re an Arab in Israel. How come you’re not angry with the students in the show chanting, ‘Kill the Arabs?” He told me they were used to hearing that phrase; it’s something they hear every day. It was so crazy to realize that even Arab students thought that personal humiliation in the show was worse than racism against them.
Zur: I think that the series has a subtext. In the end, it’s a liberal one, but it’s not so direct. I was afraid that people would take it and say there were two sides to every story. For both of us, what was important, was that we were more liberal than not. Because it deals with so many issues and trying not to judge anyone, there was not a lot of protest like what we saw before from the right-wing politicians. I’m happy about it because I think it’s good. Above all, this is a fascist regime, and it’s using the people, children, using their weakness.
I also experienced more serious reactions from the audience because some of the things I did before were more ‘in your face.’ I was younger, and I thought it was efficient. I don’t think it’s efficient anymore. I think it’s much more efficient to be complex and not to have the feeling that you’re saying something because you’re sure you’re right and you want to shout it. Also, sometimes, like Amir, I want to shout, and sometimes I shout only to say very, very clearly, ‘I’m against this, I’m for this.’ Here it was a new experience for me; to try not to.
Keydar: I find it’s a strategy for life, to make the other side feel that they understand you. That’s a shout.
What did you learn from one another during the production of the series?
Keydar: As a writer I always look from the other side, what makes it all complicated. From a conversation with Eitan, I understood that I don’t want to say that reality is complicated. This is a political state. My biggest fear was that the audience would feel my opinions and it would be reductive. Many times, I went with a lot of words and explanations. Eitan was shaving it down. We started with scissors (laughs). So Eitan said, ‘I will tell you what I don’t want to say. I don’t want to say that reality is complicated, I don’t want to. In Israel, reality is not complicated. There is a wrong side and a right side.’ So I said ‘O.K., whatever.’ But it’s something that I understood from that conversation, that for me as a writer reality is complicated, it’s a mode of writing. You have to see the complexity of everything.
Zur: Dekla is such an optimist and I’m a pessimist. I don’t think they’ll change their minds or opinions because of a TV show, even though it’s important to discuss it. I think it’s above all this, the importance of dealing with people and looking at the man or the woman who’s in front of you and not just the surface, not only what they’re saying or what they represent. Look for people and love people, that’s what’s right.
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