“Prisoner of War: Season One” has turned out to be a magnificent and riveting series that makes viewers wanting more and more! And I have to admit, I enjoyed “Prisoners of War” much more than “Homeland”, so if you enjoyed the American political thriller, definitely give this award-winning Israeli series a chance. Especially now that it is available on DVD in America courtesy of Shout! Factory! Highly recommended!
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TITLE: Prisoners of War: Season One
RELEASE OF TV SERIES: 2009
DURATION: 13 Episodes (530 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Anamorphic Widescreen, Hebrew with English Subtitles
COMPANY: Shout Factory!
RATED: Not Rated
RELEASED: July 8, 2014
Directed by Gideon Raff
Written by Gideon Raff
Produced by Liat Benasuly
Cinematography by Itai Ne’eman
Edited by Simon Herman
Casting by Hila Yuval
Starring:
Gal Zaid as Haim
Yael Eitan as Dana
Salim Dau as Jamal
Sendi Bar as Iris
Hadar Ratzon Rotem as Leila Qasab
Mili Avital as Nurit Halevi-Zach
Assi Cohen as Amiel Ben-Horin
Adi Ezroni as Yael Ben-Horin
Ishai Golan as Uri Zach
Yoram Toledano as Nimrod Klein
Guy Selnik as Hatzav
After 17 years in captivity, three Israeli soldiers are finally returned to their families: one of them in a coffin. The first season of this award-winning and controversial series follows the former captives and their families as they try to reconnect with each other. But the adjustment is painful, and when secrets of the years gone by begin coming to light, betrayal, resentment and suspicion threaten to destroy their lives all over again.
This deeply moving, intense and thrilling series was adapted into the acclaimed drama Homeland.
Before “Homeland” became a popular American political thriller, there was “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War), the Israeli drama series created by Gideno Raff, which “Homeland” was based on.
But while the series have similarities, because the difference in culture and what is going on in the Middle East, especially with Israel, “Prisoners of War” differs from its American counterpart as the focus is less on political thriller but more on a POW’s acclamation into society and their relationships with their family upon returning home.
A winner of “Best Drama Series of 2010” by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television and multiple awards, the controversial series would become Israel’s highest rated TV drama of all time.
And with a third season of “Prisoner of War” greenlighted, the first season was released in North America on DVD courtesy of Shout! Factory.
“Prisoners of War” revolves around three families.
For 17 years, these families have hoped for Israeli soldiers: Uri Zach (portrayed by Ishai Golan), Nimrod Klein (portrayed by Yoram Toledano) and Amiel Ben-Horin (portrayed by Assi Cohen) to be returned back home.
For a long period of time, both men were held in Lebanon and tortured but after negotiations for their freedom (in return of the release of prisoners), the families receive news that their love ones will be returning.
For Nimrod’s wife, Talia Klein (portrayed by Yael Abecassis), she has worked hard for her husband’s release. But in return, her family has had it’s major trouble.
Dana (portrayed by Yael Eitan) is a rebellious daughter who has dealt with not having her father around by having sexual relations with older men. While Hatzav is the teenage son that Nimrod had never met and was born after Nimrod was captured.
For the Zach family, Uri’s return is not as easily accepted as Uri’s longtime girlfriend, Nurit (portrayed by Mili Avital) went on to marry his older brother Yaakov (portrayed by Mickey Leon) and both have a son named Asaf (portrayed by Adam Kent). While Nurit and Yaakov are not as thrilled and are not sure on how to handle this situation, his father Joseph (portrayed by Shmuel Shilo) is happy for his son’s return.
For the Ben-Horin family, Adi Ezroni has been waiting to find out that her brother Amiel (portrayed by Assi Cohen) would return back home but learns that he was killed during captivity.
While the families deal with the difficulties of learning that their loved ones have changed severely due to captivity, Dana has a hard time dealing with Nimrod’s attitude, as Nimrod feels he could get back to normal life immediately but quickly learns that his wounds from torture is much deeper than expected.
And possibly, Nimrod is keeping a secret of what happened during his captivity.
Meanwhile for Uri, he has been reduced to a shy individual due to the beatings he had suffered. As for Nurit, life is not easy for her because unlike Talia who remained single and waited for her husband’s return, she chose to marry his older brother and public opinion towards her has been nothing but negative. Meanwhile, Yaakov is not comfortable that Nurit has been told to pretend she was waiting for him and she is willing to keep from Uri the truth that she had married his older brother.
As for Yael, she is dealing with Amiel’s death very hard and keeps seeing visions of Amiel alive and trying to communicate with her.
But as Nimrod and Uri are being studied by IDF psychologist Haim Cohen (portrayed by Gal Zaid), who suspects something may be amiss between the stories of captivity that both men are giving, what happened to both men during captivity and what secret(s) are they hiding?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Prisoners of War: Season One” is presented in 1:78:1 anamorphic widescreen and Hebrew Dolby Digital with English subtitles. Overall, picture quality is good for what one can expect on DVD. It helps that Shout! Factory has kept a minimum of 3-4 episodes per DVD. While I didn’t notice any major artifacts or problematic video, I do wish that “Prisoners of War: Season One” was released on Blu-ray.
But dialogue is clear and English subtitles are easy to read.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Prisoners of War: Season One” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary for episodes 1-3 by show creator Gareth Evans and Director of Photographer Itai Neeman.
- An Open Wound: Making Prisoners of War – (38:176) Featuring the making of “Prisoners of War” with interviews with creator Gideo Raff, cast and crew.
Having watched “Homeland”, I have been wanting to watch “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War) after reading so much about the series and how it inspired the American political thriller but also reading on forums of how the original was much better.
With “Homeland” being the focus of a POW who is deemed a hero by America, a CIA operative believes this hero may have been turned by terrorist group, al-Qaeda.
“Prisoners of War” takes a different approach to its storyline.
As Israel is constantly always preparing for war with a few of its neighboring countries, the discussion of POW’s continues to be a hotly debated topic in the country and “Prisoners of War” tries to depict the torture that these POW’s must face especially with a lower budget made the crew focus on the families affected.
And for the most part, the writers were able to pull off the emotional return but also the difficult of the POW’s and families adjusting as so many years have passed.
For series creator, Gareth Evans did his research in trying to learn from POW’s and their families of how they felt before and after their loved one’s release and how life is not that easy and that life and the normalcy of life will never be the same.
The character of Nimrod is rather fascinating. A man with so many plans, he comes back to find out that his young daughter is a troubled young woman and he has a teenage son that he never knew. He notices that times have changed with cell phones, fashion styles and the Israel which he knew, is not the same. And the wife he loved, has gotten older but also insistent that he gets help and is worried about his well-being.
And then there is Uri, once a young man who was looking forward to marrying his longtime girlfriend Nurit. But to be emotionally destroyed in captivity and now, a very shy man, he returns back home to find out his love has married his older brother and to find out that his loving mother had passed away while he was in captivity. Similar to Nimrod, both men have faced daily and severe torture while in captivity and both feel that despite their freedom, the world they once knew and the people they loved, have all changed.
But to add intrigue to the storyline is the storyline of what happened to these men during captivity and each glimpse that we get, the more we learn that something ominous has happened to both of them and the two are keeping a secret which they do not want anyone to know about.
What happened while these men were imprisoned? Suffice to say, each episode is riveting and captivating that you can’t help but watch episode after episode.
The writing for the series is well-done and I can only hope that the second season (which did even better in the ratings) is even better, which is hard to do when the first season was critically acclaimed.
As for the DVD, you get three audio commentary tracks and a making-of featurette. Picture quality is good, as what one can expect on DVD and I didn’t notice any major severe artifacts during my viewing. The audio is clear and English subtitles were easy to read
Overall, “Prisoner of War: Season One” has turned out to be a magnificent and riveting series that makes viewers wanting more and more! And I have to admit, I enjoyed “Prisoners of War” much more than “Homeland”, so if you enjoyed the American political thriller, definitely give this award-winning Israeli series a chance. Especially now that it is available on DVD in America courtesy of Shout! Factory!
Highly recommended!
