Our Boys – 9

A gripping and revelatory 10-part docudrama about the abduction and brutal murder of a 15-year-old Palestinian by three West Bank settlers that gives voice to many, if not all, sides of the tragic conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. There are good people and not-so-good people on both sides, and the pressures tearing them apart are astutely shown as far greater than the need or anyone’s desire to come together. I can’t say enough about the acting: every character is real and complicated. There are no caricatures, and no one appears to be acting. We spend equal time, it seems, among three groups: the Palestinian family of Abu Iyad; the Orthodox Jews of the Adam settlement; and the Jewish Division of Shabak, Israel’s internal security service. Each has its internal logic, and like rock/paper/scissors there can be no harmony. If you haven’t followed this conflict, this movie will tell you all you need to know. If you have been watching, this will all ring, sadly, true. Maybe one of the ten hours was a bit slow; the other nine raced by – when can we see more? And, Allah be praised, while in real life similar events continue, Our Boys ended without a cliffhanger lead-in to Season Two.