Valley of Tears

This is quite an assault on our senses in all senses. The sheer horror and senselessness of young men going to war over political and religious differences. This series really captures the awful reality of average people thrown into the cauldron of horror brought on by fanatical political and religious leaders.

Such a sad sad indictment on so called humanity.

That said, it is terrifically made, acted, directed. The gritty reality is palpable. The cinematography is superb. The plot is a little ridiculous at times and the coincidental interactions absurd, but that aside.

For lovers of war, hopefully this will make you lose that love. War is awful.

This series is not. Watch it!!

For me as a citizen of Ukraine - a state that is fighting against aggression of Russia right now - it's very impressive story. As well as a good illustration of the words of Golda Meir (who was born in Kyiv): "They say we must be dead. And we say we want to be alive. Between life and death, I don't know of a compromise".

Also a realistic view on the chaos of war where you can see an ordinary peaceful life with music and relaxing people in towns while there are tanks fighting just several kilometers away.

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.

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.