Our Boys

It’s clear from the outset of this dazzling chronicle set in Israel that there’s not going to be any softening of its extraordinary tension, its scenes of anguished suffering, its furiously eloquent debates on justice and loyalty, its epic crowd scenes. ... A work of distinguished writing, fearless in its sophistication, unfailing in its powers.

A challenging work of art about the intractable problem of identity—the struggle of any individual to maintain core values, when the world demands nothing but solidarity based on shared victimhood. The show is unusually fearless about letting moral discomfort linger, and manages to be stirring without ever offering false hope, a rarity for even the best-made dramas.

With the authenticity and intensity recalling The Wire if set in the Middle East, Our Boys puts a human face on an age-old conflict, asking if justice is ever possible in a world where young boys are used as tragic pawns. [5 - 18 Aug 2019, p.11]

There’s an immense level of compassion here, which should ultimately prove rewarding for anyone who digs in.

[Mohammed’s family's] well-drawn grief and their confusion is the key reason to watch “Our Boys’s” early going. ... “Our Boys” is paced with a punishing slowness, as if to drag the viewer into the morass of distrust that is contemporary Israel. But it rewards with tough insight, as through Arbid’s and Blal’s performances or in moments when the young people of Israel speak with a horrible clarity, revealing what they’ve learned from their upbringings.

The language and pacing in Our Boys reflect its Israeli roots, but the emotional core of this powerful fact-based miniseries hinges on tribalism, the intractability of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the adage that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. In that, this HBO presentation offers a sobering window into that part of the world, with implications that swell far beyond it.

Stylistically, it's simultaneously beautifully crafted and painfully sluggish — essentially your finest tapestry of abject misery porn. ... If the viewer does not have a passing knowledge of the innumerable conflicts between secular Israelis and ultra-Orthodox Jews, the socioeconomic stratification of Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, or the in-fighting between extremist factions within Haredi Judaism, then they might be more than a little lost watching this program.

It’s so conscientious that it’s bound to confuse viewers who aren’t familiar with Jerusalem neighborhoods, the Israeli justice system, or the differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. (As a secular American Jew, I often lost track.) Despite superb performances, this dearth of context and a frustratingly slow pace can make the show a hard sit. Stick around, though, and you’ll be rewarded with a timely argument that an eye for an eye isn’t always justice.