Danielle Solzman
Amazon’s newest television series, Hunters, follows a team of Nazi Hunters–led by Meyer Offerman–living in New York City in 1977.
To say that the first half of the series didn’t sit well with me would not be an understatement. The tone is somewhere closer to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds than Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. Don’t even think about comparisons to Best Picture nominee Jojo Rabbit because the two couldn’t be more different in tone.
Where a film like Jojo Rabbit makes Nazis look somewhat like buffoons, Hunters shows them to be the monsters that they really are. There’s certainly nothing wrong with depicting Nazis as the monsters they are because they’re absolutely that. No, where this series got my emotions running high–and not in a good way–is the death of two Jews in the opening half hour. Seeing a woman get gassed in her shower didn’t do any favors either. When you lose family in the Holocaust, anything in the Holocaust genre is going to be very personal.
The concept of Nazi Hunters is one that should work in theory. I’d watch something about Simon Wiesenthal in an instant! However, the whole pulp/grindhouse direction is where this series honestly lost me as a viewer. I somehow made it through the end of the fifth episode. While there are five more episodes available to watch, I won’t be one of the viewers. Seeing as where my feelings were after five episodes, I should have stopped watching well before that.
Is the series relevant in 2020? I honestly don’t have the answer. I mean, you’re welcome to watch for yourself and see how you feel. As for me, i just don’t have any interest in watching how it turns out. You might or might not feel differently then me. You know what? That’s perfectly alright because nobody has to agree on every TV series or movie.
My feelings on this series have nothing to do with the actors. Logan Lerman is fine in the leading role of Heidelbaum. Even though he isn’t Jewish, it’s very well possible to buy into Pacino’s portrayal of Holocaust survivor Meyer Offerman. Dylan Baker and Greg Austin’s portrayals of their characters really sell the idea.
When it comes to Hunters, pulp and the Holocaust just don’t mix well.
CREATOR: David Weil
CAST: Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Jerrika Hinton, Josh Radnor, Kate Mulvany, Tiffany Boone, Greg Austin, Louis Ozawa, Carol Kane, Saul Rubinek, Dylan Baker, Lena Olin
