'Frontline: Netanyahu at War'
(DVD / NR / 2016 / PBS)
Overview: This is the inside story of the bitter clash between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Amid violence in the Middle East, the film traces Netanyahus rise to power and his high-stakes fight with the president over Irans nuclear program.
DVD Verdict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the most polarizing political leaders on the world stage. His hardline politics on Iran and Israeli-Palestinian affairs have won him both intense support and bitter criticism at home and abroad--all the more so after his dramatic attempt in March 2015 to derail President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran in front of the U.S. Congress.
Now, with new waves of violence between Israelis and Palestinians unfolding and Israel-U.S. relations already emerging as a 2016 campaign issue, FRONTLINE presents this epic, two-hour documentary tracing Netanyahu's path to power, his combative relationships with multiple U.S. presidents and the implications in America and the Middle East.
Filmmaker Michael Kirk (United States of Secrets, League of Denial) takes a revealing inside look at political relations between the U.S. and Israel, long one of America's closest allies, as he and his investigative team go inside the events that have defined one of Israel's longest serving prime ministers, drawing on more than 30 remarkably candid interviews with his current and former advisors; top Israeli, American and Palestinian officials; foreign policy analysts; authors and journalists.
The resulting film is an unprecedented, must-watch look inside the relationship between the U.S. and Israel during the Netanyahu years. But beware, for the polarized nature of the current political climate, and the sensitivity that surrounds Israel as a U.S. ally in the broader context of the Middle East, will likely color how many perceive 'Netanyahu at War.'
But Frontline has once again navigated that minefield in a manner that sheds light on both sides of the argument — as well as on Netanyahu’s influence, in his country and abroad — with the kind of clarity and depth that TV too seldom provides. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.
www.PBS.org