Valley of Tears

I'm military and have been to the Golan, and also read my bit about the war in '73. This was a chaotic war, poorly prepared for and intelligence largely ignored. More than anything, this war showed how crucial training levels and personal initiatives are. Vastly outnumbered, no strategic depth, and horribly unprepared. It shouldn't have been possible to turn that war. The series seem to catch what I can only imagine would have been a frightening battle on the brink of the abyss.

This series is very well done from the point of realism. One certainly gets the feel of being in battle with people fighting for their very right to exist. The war was hard on all sides and resulted in loss of life. The personal stories are very dramatic. Bear in mind however that this is a soap opera so be prepared for very melodramatic and "soapy" dialog! The worst thing one could say about the series would be the toupees used to evoke the 1970s feel really looked a bit silly. However it did not detract from the excellence of the production. It is well worth the watch and it helps if you know the back story to the war and the culture of the region. Do not under any circumstances watch the dubbed version! Watch only the original version in Hebrew and Arabic and read the subtitles!

Let's get the negatives out of the way first.

Yes, the geek kid is extremely annoying. But his character does experience growth. So there's that. Also, the guy playing Caspi over acts as well.

As to people moaning about bad dubbing, why are you watching a dubbed version? NEVER watch dubbed versions of anything. On Netflix, in particular, every show that is dubbed is awful. Great shows like "Money Heist" and "Babylon Berlin" sound like high school productions if you watch them dubbed. And, yes, there is both a dubbed version and an original language version available of "Valley of Tears" on HBO Max. So, stop complaining if you're not watching with subtitles.

But, all that aside, this is a pretty mesmerizing show. It really sucks you into the moment in time. Many of the details are accurate depictions of the chaos and noise, fear and horror of war. No, not everyone marches into battle like John Wayne or leads troops expertly like George Patton. I appreciate the reality of it all. Together with "1917," these are two of the best anti-war films in a long time. And, yes, pretty much all war films are anti-war films.

So grateful to have something decent again to watch, even if most of us know the plot is well documented. There are one or two details to which they could have paid more attention, but these should not really bother you. This was meant to be the trap that would push the state of Israel into the Sea, but it just goes to show that when people are fighting for their cilivization how much they can pull together, bury common differences and use the gifts and special circumstances prescribed to them to overturn the odds. If you insist on poking the bear, be prepared for the consequences.

This has to be one of the saddest films I have ever seen in my life.

I was in my late teens when all this kicked off and it all went a bit 'over my head' at the time. Having studied the bible a little - for ten years at least, it's such a shame nothing seems to have changed since they moved here.

It proves hatred is almost as powerful as love.

Thankyou.