Valley of Tears

Highly recommend watching this in Hebrew with subtitles, the dubbed version doesn't do it justice. A great insight into the war especially for those of us that weren't born when it happened. Think Israeli Band of Brothers. Poignant moment when two young innocent Arab and Israeli kids meet, really illustrates the futility of war. I sense the directors really tried not to glorify the cause of either side and deserve great credit for doing so.

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.

As former tank crew member in IDF, I watched the show and at first shot I said they use real ammo no stunt can move a 90 ton tank like a shot can. Went online and found out they did use. The inside tank fighting talks is precise to the letter, the signs on each tank are precised. Cant believe they may have trained actors to use a tank because inside without any knowledge is life threatening ! Every scene is a masterpiece and down to the very detail!

The dialect as spoken is with an accent as if the actors rarely if ever speak it. The expressions are though from the 70s as some expressions have changed. Great movie. Great acting. Sometimes it felt surreal: major invasion yet folks take the time to do some touring in a nice car, especially given the geography of the place, i.e. the shelling is within kms of the ride. Avinoam, this is what I am going to start screaming at any homo sapien that is so dysfunctional that every person around him wants to be the first to unload 6 bullets into him. Really hard to imagine that IDF leadership would have asked that 'psychology' person to do anything that would have decided the fate of soldiers. In a way, I thought of that imagined character as an illustration of: only the mental cases were worried about the next war while the political leadership was oblivious in its arrogance. A few seconds from Dayan in the movie led to me to this impression. I loved the background noise/story about sepharades vs. ashkenazi, the diversity of Israel back then ( and now ), reminding us this was a time when only 20-30 years had elapsed since jews from completely different planets came together ( Moroccans vs. Poles ). Some scenes were hyper powerful, i.e. the thirsty man. And what the soldier responded to Avinoam when Avinoam criticized his action. What the series fails to represent: the scale of this attack. I felt like we were in a bubble. I am left wondering why they did not showcase politicians. Maybe a Season 2?

From a Moroccan!

Do NOT watch the dubbed version, it's terribly done.

Watch it in the original hebrew with english subtitles.

Yes, some characters are initially whiny and crybabies but what people fail to understand is that they are intelligence soldiers who didn't have a minute of combat training and were caught in that situation.

The acting and script were on point.

The only downside for me was the political correctness: No girl was in a combat zone in the north but somehow they stuck that in the script because they just "had to", that was a pity.

Insane emphasis was put on realism when creating the series and the detailing and the realism goes down to the most minute details.

Real masterpiece