Fauda 5: Powerful, Necessary, Unforgettable

I binged the fifth season of Fauda on Netflix the past two nights.  As is well-known, the script for this season was substantially re-written after the savage Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.  The result was the story of an increasingly desperate attempt to stop a new terrorist attack -- an attempt by three members of the original Fauda team, Doron, Eli, and Steve -- each of them with a direct involvement in the Israeli attempt to stem the Hamas slaughter of unarmed Israelis in 2023.

In fact, the most effective two episodes in this 11-part season -- episodes 7 and 8 -- tell the harrowing stories of Doron, Eli, and Steve on that October day, an emotionally explosive account that made a highly effective, two-part movie in itself.  With all the anti-semitism rising around the world, it's more important than ever for the terrible story of October 7 to get out to the world.

This explicit connection to and depiction of such a vile real life event makes this fifth season of Fauda in significant part a docu-drama, an evocative, unforgettable depiction of fictitious characters in an all-too-real situation.  That reason alone makes this fifth season uniquely important and memorable.

But the fiction was significant, too.  Mélanie Laurent's Anne, the wife of someone who may be a Hamas operative in Marseilles, is an excellent addition to the story and cast, and plays a crucial part in the narrative.  Lior Raz as Doron (co-creator of the series with Avi Issacharoff), Yaakov Zada-Daniel as Eli, Doron Ben-David as Steve, and Itzik Cohen as Gabi are always welcome on the screen -- Gabi frequently has the best lines, like "I'm getting too old for this" -- and as always, the Yiddishkeit is good to hear and see.

Indeed, last night was the final night of Rosh Hashanah, so seeing Fauda over the past two nights felt especially right.  But its story, especially the story this season, is especially appropriate, any time, and any year.

Wars always have unforeseen wretched consequences.  World War I spawned fighting from the sky, World War II gave us nuclear weapons, the October 7 Hamas attack led to the decimation of Gaza.  Fauda 5 doesn't tell us that story, but it vividly reminds us why it happened.  It will be an essential marker of an unspeakably inhuman part of history.

See also Fauda: Beyond Homeland ... Fauda 2: Another Unforgettable Visit ... Fauda 3: Blood, Tears, Humanity ... Fauda 4: Very Much Alive and Wounded ...