Adapting recent history is an endeavor that shouldn’t be taken lightly, particularly when it involves sensitive subjects and its reverberations are still being felt by the general public. Two years after the surprise attack by Hamas that resulted in nearly 1,200 Israelis being killed, the date of October 7th, 2023 remains etched in the minds of so many as an incomparably horrific occasion that has led to all-out war and the loss of so many more lives in Gaza. Red Alert, one of two Israeli series coming to the United States on the second anniversary of that day, approaches its material with a sensitivity and starkness that makes it both deeply emotional and enormously compelling.
Five different stories unfold as Hamas terrorists make their way into Israel. Ayoub (Hisham Sulliman), a Bedouin man, is forced to hide with his infant child when he and his wife are run off the road. Nofar (Chen Amsalem Zaguri) is a police officer working security at the Nova music festival who is injured but kept alive by another officer, Liat (Rotem Abuhav), as they remain silent and hidden. Nofar’s husband Kobi (Israel Atias) tries desperately to enlist his colleagues to save her even as he fights terrorists going door-to-door trying to enter suburban homes. While she looks for her son, Tali (Sarit Vino-Elad) drives wounded people to the local hospital. Bat Sheva (Rotem Sela) waits with her husband Ohad (Miki Leon) and their three children in the safe room that won’t lock as they hear gunfire outside of their home.
There is a starkness to this four-episode series that feels true to that day, with constant confusion and fear worsened by a severe lack of information. Everyone believes that the army is coming soon to save the day, yet that takes far too long, and they’re all forced into action to confront the very real danger in their midst. Reports of what’s happening don’t all match, but the news is entirely grim, making hope of survival feel all the more unlikely. As these five separate stories demonstrate, however, resilience was indeed key as these individuals took matters into their own hands to ensure their best chances at making it through an unbearable situation alive.
The pacing of this show, which features four episodes each between forty and fifty minutes long, is very immersive, leaving little time for exposition and instead meeting the characters as they encounter their new realities and are forced to confront their inescapability. They’re mostly quite solitary, as each person must make life-or-death decisions to protect themselves and those around them who aren’t able to fend for themselves. There are also complicating factors which make these stories more vivid and engaging, like Kobi needing to disobey orders in order to go after his wife, Tali having to show that she isn’t a helicopter mother trying to find her son but instead someone willing to save whoever she can, and Ayoub weighing whether the fact that he speaks Arabic and could appeal to Hamas if he went to speak with their fighters would actually be enough to save his life.
This series is packed with action but constructed in a very sensitive manner, one that shows great reverence for its content and doesn’t attempt to sensationalize it. It all takes place very much in the moment without resorting to cinematic flourishes or enhancements, relying on the weight of its events – and compelling performances from the entire ensemble – to convey their power. The true gut punch comes from seeing photos of and updates on the real people as their stories come to a close, clarifying that this isn’t pure fiction inspired by what happened but instead a dramatization of lived, harrowing experience that represents just a tiny fraction of the devastation of that one day.
Series Rating: 9/10
