Two
young Israelis and their Norwegian friend are on their way home from a holiday
on the beaches of Sinai when they are kidnapped by Daesh terrorists. Held captive
in mountain caves and Bedouin encampments, they are threatened with death
unless 12 Islamic State members are released from prison, including a terrorist
leader being held in Norway.
This
is the beginning of the Netflix series ‘The Girl from Oslo’ (2021), created by Kyrre
Holm Johannessen and Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz. Presented as the next big Israeli
dramatic thriller to hit the streaming screens, the series is as much of a need
of a rescue as the captives held in Sinai.
The
ominous score; the panoramic scenes of Jerusalem from above; and a multitude of
scowls, secrets, and scandals give the series the air of a soap opera. Ten
episodes are a bit much. The terrorists should have been killed and the
prisoners released much sooner.
The
series stars Andrea Berntzen as the kidnapped red-cheeked Norwegian girl, Pia; Anneke
von der Lippe as the mother who would do anything, even reveal her innermost
secrets, to get her daughter’s release; and Amos Tamam as the hapless Israeli
Minister of Intelligence, who seemingly can’t do anything right.
Outstanding
performances are delivered by Raida Adon, as the mother’s Palestinian friend;
and Rotem Abuhab, as the minister’s wife. Jameel Khoury is impressive as a
wheelchair-bound Hamas commander, but ‘Fauda’ costar Shadi Mar'i is completely
wasted in his role as a terrorist-in-training.
Many
things are hard to believe in the series. All that the best Israeli
intelligence officers can do on the captives’ behalf is stand motionless as
their drones follow them from above. The Minister of Intelligence seems to be
the only government official concerned with the incident. There is no
explanation for relentless, seemingly unprovoked Israeli bombing of Gaza. And,
the Egyptians don’t seem to be involved in what is happening in their
territory.
Still,
there is one reason to watch ‘The Girl from Oslo’, and that is the stunning
desert landscapes where much of the action takes place. Although portrayed as
Sinai, the series was actually filmed in the Negev and the Arava, and in Timna
in particular. Israel’s southern regions have never before been shown so
beautifully on the screen.
Netflix
spends billions of dollars on content. One can only hope that the next Israeli
thriller to stream on the service will be a bit more believable than ‘The Girl
from Oslo’.
Originally posted on The Times of Israel.
