A hostage story, ‘The Bear’ at its best: What to watch from Israel and worldwide today

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'52 Days' is a well-made and gripping film, which is a further reminder, if any were needed, of the sufferings of those still held hostage in Gaza.

52 Days

52 Days, a new documentary from Kan 11 available on the Kan website (kan.org.il) looks at one of the many dramatic and heartbreaking stories from October 7, that of the Yaakov family. Two teenage brothers, Or and Yagil Yaakov, were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on that day, along with their father, Yair, and his partner, Meirav Tal. She and the two brothers were released in the November 2023 hostage deal; Yair was killed in captivity. His body was returned to Israel for burial just a few weeks ago.

You may remember Yagil, who was 12 at the time he was taken hostage, speaking in one of the first videos released by the terrorists, looking sad and hopeful all at once as he asked the Israeli government to save his life. Since his return, he has become one of the most vocal of the dozens of child hostages who survived.

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The film shows him returning to Nir Oz to visit the remnants of his family’s home and being recognized by well-meaning visitors who came to the site of the attack, calling him a hero and asking for selfies. “It’s embarrassing,” he says, adding, “There are many people who were more heroic than I was.”

But the resilience of Yagil and his brother, who were separated from each other during most of their ordeal, is quite heroic. The documentary uses some of the videos filmed by the terrorists to show how Meirav and Yair were dragged out of their safe room after the terrorists detonated an explosive placed on the door.

Also disturbing are photos of Gazans attacking Yagil after he was taken into Gaza. The Hamas terrorists initially thought that Or, who was 16 when he was taken captive, was a soldier, and other hostages struggled to convince their captors that he was still a child.

In one of the most touching moments of the film, Renana Gome, their mother, who fought as hard as she could for their release, relates that she did not want their birthdays, which fell in November, to be celebrated or publicized, because she feared that the closer to military draft age they were, the worse they would be treated by their captors.

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It’s a well-made and gripping film, which is a further reminder, if any were needed, of the sufferings of those still held hostage in Gaza.

JEREMY ALLEN White in ‘The Bear.’ (credit: DISNEY+)

The Bear – Disney+

Disney+ asked me not to reveal any spoilers about season four of The Bear, which was just released, and I won’t, but if you saw season two and have been wondering what a person named Francie Fak did that was so terrible, a misdeed referred to in one key episode, you will find out here – sort of.

Francie shows up for the first time, with an intriguing if not totally clear story to tell, and she’s played by Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson.

Even better news is that season four, which starts out slowly, ends up being very much a return to form for the beloved restaurant-centered series. If you missed out on this show, and wondered why a couple of years ago, the expression, “Yes, chef!” was popping up everywhere, this excellent season is a new reason to start watching.

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If, like many, you have been watching but were underwhelmed by the third season, which was heavy on cameos by celebrity chefs but light on plot development, the fourth season really lets it rip once again, to quote another expression from the show.

The series tells the story of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), a master chef working in Europe who returns to his family’s sandwich joint in Chicago after his brother (Jon Bernthal), who managed the place, committed suicide. That first season had great moments, although I know some viewers were put off by the quick introduction of many characters and a lot of yelling.

But in the second season, as Carmy prepared to open a high-end restaurant, all the elements came together and it was sublime. It was partly about running a restaurant, and mostly about the fallout from being raised in an extremely dysfunctional family, as well as a look at creativity and vocation.

IN THE FOURTH season, the restaurant has garnered praise but is not earning money, which puts the entire staff under pressure. The whole gang is back, including the funny but dangerously impulsive Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach); Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), the brilliant chef who aspires to Carmy’s level and, like him, puts her personal life on hold; Carmy’s sister, Natalie (Abby Elliott), who has just had a baby; and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson), a Somalian refugee who saw horrors in the war there and comes up with an unlikely scheme to make the restaurant profitable.

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Also back are Neil (Matty Matheson), the gnomish mechanic turned waiter; Gary (Corey Hendrix), a former baseball player who again reinvents himself as a sommelier; Marcus (Lionel Boyce), an inventive pastry chef; Tina (Lisa Colon-Zayes), the cook who blossoms when she is given more responsibility; and Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt), the hard-nosed relative reluctantly financing the venture.

But perhaps best of all, Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Carmy’s mother, and she appears in several episodes. She does the finest work of her career as a woman who suffered from mental illness all her life but also realized belatedly that she was self-centered and cruel to her children, as she tries to make things right. A second Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series is already hers.

One new face introduced this season is Rob Reiner, playing a businessman advising Ebraheim, who may or may not be the real deal.

While I won’t reveal it, the season ends with a shocking twist. It seems like it could spell the end of the show, but FX just announced that it has been renewed for a fifth season, which will give you something to look forward to after you binge this one.

Dinos, Sharks, and the Ocean

Now that it’s the 50th anniversary summer of the opening of the original Jaws and a new movie in the Jurassic franchise, Jurassic World: Rebirth, has just opened in theaters featuring some prehistoric shark action, you might want to check out some shark and dinosaur programming.

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If you’d like to see the original Jurassic Park – one of only two movies in the series actually directed by Steven Spielberg – and some of its sequels, they are available on Apple TV+. Jaws can currently be seen on Netflix, Apple TV+, and Yes.

Beautifully photographed underwater documentaries can be very soothing, and the new one, Ocean with David Attenborough, now available on Disney+, is one of the best. The 99-year-old British broadcaster, biologist, natural historian, and writer is known for dozens of wonderful nature documentaries, which are always a cut above average. This one combines stunning photography featuring all manner of underwater creatures with a sense of wonder about discoveries that are continually being made about the world under the waves.

The oceans are currently being damaged by all the plastic waste that washes up in them, industrial overfishing, and other man-made problems, and Attenborough and his collaborators focus on how they can be saved. His passion for the subject makes what could have been a preachy project into something fascinating.

Less high-minded, the documentary Shark Whisperer on Netflix looks at the career of Ocean Ramsey, a gorgeous blond who has become famous for swimming with sharks and being photographed at it. She admits to using her Barbie looks to get her message across, which is that sharks are not monsters but magnificent creatures that must be protected.

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Watching the film, I couldn’t help thinking about the popularity of shows on nature channels about shark attacks, which tend to feature victims who are young, thin, and tan. Critics say that her communing with these fish can provoke them and encourage others less skilled in the way of the shark to try this, which can have tragic results, as we saw earlier this year off the coast of Israel.

But Shark Whisperer also features amazing underwater photography and gets across its message that shark attacks are rare and that sharks are a key part of marine life.