A MASTERPIECE

radford46

Valley of Tears, inspired by true events in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 (which I, as a young war correspondent witnessed), is the biggest production yet by Israeli TV film producers, who have already captured the world with series such as FAUDA and MOSSAD 101, and others that have spawned such successful English-language series as HOMELAND. Non-Hebrew speakers are in for a treat when the sub-titled version is eventually released by HBO and SKY.
With a budget of $1m dollars an episode (a fortune by Israeli standards), VoT is as grand and visceral an experience as one could wish for when watching this particular genre. Both my Israeli wife and I were rooted in our armchairs for the first three episodes of the eight-episode series in Hebrew, which at the time of writing is all I can review. The series depicts the war through the eyes of young combatants. It tells four emotional and highly personal stories of individuals swept away from their loved ones by the ravages of war, four parallel plotlines, intertwined together into one climactic battle.
VoT begins at the Israeli outpost atop Mt Hermon on the Syrian-Lebanese border with Israel. Called "the eyes and ears" of the state, it was meant to provide early warning of impending attack. To this effect, Golani soldiers were there to protect non-combat intelligence personnel monitoring enemy activity in the vicinity. In Israel, the Yom Kippur War is also called "the Mehdal", which loosely translated means catastrophic neglect. This appertains to the failure of the higher echelons of the Israeli political leadership and army to take seriously intelligence reports of an impending attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces. Basically, the IDF was caught with its pants down.
The first to suffer the consequences of such hubris were those unfortunates defending the Mt Hermon outpost. A special mention must be made of Shahar Taboch, who plays Avinoam, a frightened rabbit who is nevertheless a hero. He is one of the non-combatants listening in to Syrian military radio activity.. The ensuing battle scenes at the outpost were incredibly gripping, mainly because we had been invested in the storylines of the various combatants, especially members of the disaffected Black Panthers, Mizrachi (Eastern) Jews who felt they were second-class citizens in their own state, but nevertheless put their lives on the line when push came to shove.
I had been at that outpost soon after the Israelis retook it at the end of the war. I witnessed the total exhaustion of the Golani Brigade soldiers who had had to fight uphill and then participate in hand-to-hand fighting; I saw Syrian soldiers burying their dead; I saw burnt-out Syrian T-62 tanks being hurled off the ridges by Israeli Caterpillar tractors. But this was as nothing when compared to the fate of those who were subject to that initial Syrian attack.
While the series is called Sha'at Ne'ilah (a reference to the closing religious ceremony of Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement), The Valley of Tears is the name given to an area in the Golan Heights after it became the site of one of the biggest tank battles in history. Although massively outnumbered, the Israeli forces managed to hold their positions and on the fourth day of the battle the Syrians withdrew, just as the Israeli defences were almost at the point of collapse.
This stupendous Israeli TV series is a fitting tribute to the ordinary men and women who stood tall in Israel's hour of need. Unmissable.and a true masterpiece.

score 10/10

radford46 1 November 2020

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6226580/