In ‘Kafka,’ now streaming on ChaiFlicks, the Czech Jewish author’s escapades and complex inner struggles are creatively portrayed through the eyes of those who loved him most
In a scene from the new miniseries “Kafka,” when a Yiddish theater troupe from Eastern Europe tours Prague, the titular character Franz Kafka is among the audience.
The Czech Jewish literary wunderkind and his smart-set pals watch an unconventional Shabbat dinner unfold: four actors — two in drag — mimic a shtetl family, accompanied by three musicians on the bass, violin and accordion. The patriarch issues an ultimatum against arguments on Shabbat, then begins to recite a blessing. An incensed family member interrupts by dumping the imaginary contents of a bowl over his head. Kafka, entranced, does the actors one better: He envisions an actual bowl of soup, noodles and all, being dumped over the head of his own overbearing father, Hermann.
