{"id":8338,"date":"2013-07-25T05:47:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T11:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=8338"},"modified":"2013-07-25T06:03:56","modified_gmt":"2013-07-25T12:03:56","slug":"homeland-writers-work-shaped-by-idf-service-jewish-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/homeland-writers-work-shaped-by-idf-service-jewish-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Homeland&#8217; writer&#8217;s work shaped by IDF service, Jewish heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ROBERT GLUCK<\/p>\n<p>(JNS.org) &#8211; Israeli-born writer and director Gideon Raff knows the cost of war. That knowledge, as well as his Jewish background, helped him create two of television\u2019s most compelling dramas.<\/p>\n<p>Raff\u2019s \u201cPrisoners of War\u201d\u00a0series on Israel\u2019s\u00a0<em>Channel 2<\/em>\u00a0won the Israeli equivalent of an Academy Award for best drama in 2010 and was sold to 20th Century Fox. Originally titled\u00a0<em>Hatufim<\/em>\u00a0in Hebrew, the show was adapted into the acclaimed\u00a0<em>Showtime\u00a0<\/em>series\u00a0\u201cHomeland\u201d in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJudaism affected the way I write, the way I see the world,\u201d Raff told<em>JNS.org<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s in my education, it\u2019s in my history and in the way I was raised. First and foremost Jews are storytellers. I can\u2019t think of a time my mother wouldn\u2019t shove a book in my hand demanding that I read.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8340\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/GideonRaff.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8340\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8340 lazyload\" title=\"GideonRaff\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/GideonRaff-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/GideonRaff-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/GideonRaff.jpg 500w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 200px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 200\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8340\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8340\" title=\"GideonRaff\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/GideonRaff-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/GideonRaff-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/GideonRaff.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-8340\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israeli &quot;Homeland&quot; writer Gideon Raff. (Photo credit: Keshet International.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, \u201cHomeland\u201d broke viewership marks for\u00a0<em>Showtime\u00a0<\/em>and won multiple Golden Globes and Emmy awards. Danes stars as Carrie Mathison, a CIA officer with bipolar disorder who comes to believe that Nicholas Brody (Lewis), a U.S. marine who was held captive by Al-Qaeda as a prisoner of war, was turned into a traitor by the enemy and now threatens America.<\/p>\n<p>Set in 2008,\u00a0\u201cPrisoners of War\u201d\u00a0depicts three Israeli soldiers captured 17 years earlier while on a secret mission with their unit in Lebanon. The story begins with their return home after years of negotiations for their freedom. Nimrod Klein and Uri Zach return alive, while the remains of Amiel Ben-Horin come back in a coffin. The series explores the reintegration of Nimrod and Uri into a society that has made them national icons, and into an interrupted family life, while working through the trauma of being held captive and tortured.<\/p>\n<p>Born and raised in Jerusalem, Raff served in the Israel Defense Forces, moved to Tel Aviv, and then completed a degree in directing at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. His Jewish heritage, especially his military service, influenced his writings and is evident in the themes of\u00a0\u201cPrisoners of War\u201d and \u201cHomeland.\u201d One major difference in the two shows involves their depictions of society\u2019s feelings about war.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe main reason for this difference is because military service is not mandatory in the U.S. but is in Israel,\u201d Raff told\u00a0<em>JNS.org<\/em>. \u201cBecause service in the army is mandatory in Israel, and because it\u2019s such a small country and such a tight community, whenever<\/p>\n<p>something happens to a soldier in Israel it hits close to home in every household.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When he wrote\u00a0\u201cPrisoners of War,\u201d\u00a0Raff was living in Los Angeles and was influenced by how the Iraq and Afghanistan wars played out for American soldiers who served.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou heard that soldiers were hurt and dying but you never saw the funerals, never saw the coffins coming back home, and this was intentional,\u201d Raff said. \u201cIn Israel it is exactly the opposite. We are very well aware of the price that the boys, sons and daughters, pay for our freedom. We are asked to pay that price. So whenever something happens to a POW, Israel campaigns for his return because next time it could be me, it could be my brother or sister.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Raff\u2019s writing addresses a topic he said isn\u2019t usually covered on screen\u2014how prisoners deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost people don\u2019t deal with it,\u201d Raff said. \u201cWhen we try to deal with it, there is no one cure, there is no one way to get better. Captivity especially has a very unique PTSD. We do not deal with it because the people themselves, coming back from war, don&#8217;t understand that it takes time to realize they have a problem. They want to forget about it and move on with their lives. It is an illness that is very hard to diagnose and see how to help. There are different ways of dealing with it but there is not one cure, no secret or magic pill for this.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8341\" style=\"width: 245px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/homeland.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8341\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8341 lazyload\" title=\"Homeland\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/homeland-235x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"235\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/homeland-235x300.jpg 235w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/homeland.jpg 490w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 235px) 100vw, 235px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 235px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 235\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8341\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8341\" title=\"Homeland\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/homeland-235x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"235\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/homeland-235x300.jpg 235w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/homeland.jpg 490w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 235px) 100vw, 235px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-8341\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A poster for Gideon Raff&#39;s &quot;Homeland.&quot; (Photo credit: Showtime)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ran Tellem, vice president of programming for Keshet\u2014whose distribution and international production arm, Keshet International, produced \u201cPrisoners of War\u201d\u2014enjoyed working with Raff because he is \u201cnot only a great guy, but an extremely talented writer, producer and director.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder his stewardship, \u2018Prisoners of War\u2019 became the highest-rated drama for Keshet Broadcasting (and in all of Israel), alongside its acclaimed multi-award-winning U.S. adaptation \u2018Homeland,\u2019 has been sold to several countries all over the world from Afghanistan to Vietnam,\u201d Tellem told\u00a0<em>JNS.org<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating from the American Film Institute (AFI) in 2003,\u00a0 Raff worked as director Doug Liman\u2019s assistant on the blockbuster \u201cMr. and Mrs. Smith,\u201d which starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Raff\u2019s feature directorial debut,<em>\u00a0\u201c<\/em>The Killing Floor,\u201d was distributed in more than 40 countries and was acquired by ThinkFilm for domestic distribution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAFI was a great part of why I am where I am right now,\u201d Raff said. \u201cYou study in an environment where later you grow and work with the same people in the real industry. It was a good program and it helped me a lot. I\u2019m still in touch with AFI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Raff is also a bestselling author in Israel, where he completed his undergraduate degree at Tel Aviv University. He interviewed prisoners and their family members as part of his research for<em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u201cPrisoners of War<em>.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In its first season, \u201cPrisoners of War\u201d was the highest-rated drama of the year in Israel, achieving a 37-percent share. Season II scored a 40-percent share, making it the most-viewed drama in Israel in 2012. The show won nine Israeli awards equivalent to Emmys, including best director and best drama.<\/p>\n<p>Raff attended this year\u2019s San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, where attendees got the chance to explore the evolution of \u201cPrisoners of War,\u201d learning how it morphed into\u00a0\u201cHomeland.\u201d In late 2009, Keshet and Raff sold the format rights for\u00a0\u201cPrisoners of War\u201d to 20th Century Fox. Raff collaborated with Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, creators and producers of the hit U.S. show\u00a0\u201c24,\u201d to write and develop the American adaptation.\u00a0\u201cHomeland\u201d\u00a0debuted on\u00a0<em>Showtime<\/em>\u00a0in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>What is next for Raff? David Yates, director of the last four<em>\u00a0<\/em>\u201cHarry Potter\u201d\u00a0movies, signed on to helm the pilot for high-profile\u00a0<em>FX<\/em>\u00a0drama \u201cTyrant,\u201d from \u201cHomeland\u201d executive producers Gordon and Raff as well as \u201cSix Feet Under\u201d writer Craig Wright. Yates replaces Ang Lee, who originally committed to\u00a0\u201cTyrant\u201d\u00a0but pulled out for personal reasons. Created by Raff and developed by Gordon and Wright,\u00a0\u201cTyrant\u201d\u00a0tells the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Fox 21<\/em>-produced project has a big commitment from\u00a0<em>FX<\/em>\u00a0and is expected to go to series.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re shooting the pilot this summer in Morocco. That\u2019s all I can say about\u00a0\u2018Tyrant,\u2019\u201d Raff said.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"%27Homeland%27%20writer%27s%20work%20shaped%20by%20IDF%20service%2C%20Jewish%20heritage\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1884],"tags":[3275,1751,8781,8790,8795,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8338"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8342,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8338\/revisions\/8342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}