The Promise (2011)

Wonderful character development!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

I really liked the two stories of this series, if only because the past one is an almost forgotten piece of history in terms of films and TV series whereas the present story is told in a quite unbiased line; at least, as much unbiased as any story dealing with such conflict can be.While I write this review, Israel is striking Gaza with their planes, ships and artillery while Gaza is striking Israel with their rockets. It is very difficult to adopt an objective point of view of the conflict; once you get into it, you always have a tendency to lean towards one side or the other. "The Promise" criticises present-day Israeli policies in the occupied territories as well as the old days terrorist actions of the Irgun (a Jewish terrorist group), but it also creates good Israeli characters and others full of inner contradictions and moral conflicts. The Palestinian side goes cleverly untouched, with only a couple of characters with some meaning in the story. So, as a whole, I don't think it's biased at all. It just tells some uncomfortable truths.There are several striking similarities between the times of the Mandate and present-day Palestine. To begin with, Israelis achieved independence thanks to terrorism, something that Palestinians are now somehow imitating. You can choose to call them "freedom fighters" or "terrorists", but you'll have to choose the same term for both, and this is an uncomfortable truth. Other examples which have a very clear resemblance with present days Palestine resistance: Irgun kidnapping soldiers or hiding weapons in schools. All that part of the story has been forgotten for such a long time that, once rediscovered, one needs to review and update his former ideas about the conflict.Now, about the differences. The British Mandate is portrayed as a peace-keeper force supported by international law, whereas Israel in the occupied territories are portrayed as a brutal force acting against all international laws. However uncomfortable they might be, these differences are essentially true, uncomfortable truths once again. The Nakba ethnic cleansing (recently admitted and explored by Israeli historians), the suicide bombers, the deep division among the Palestinian ranks, the wall dividing Palestinian populations, the illegal settlements in the occupied territories, the underlying racism of Israeli society... all of them uncomfortable truths. Even the British abandoning the land even knowing of the massacres that were about to happen (it reminded me of the Dutch in Srebrenica). No one is left untouched in "The Promise".By the way, to conclude, what I liked the most was the extremely beautiful parallelism between the broken promise of the protagonist (Len) to protect the Arab child and the broken promise of the British troops to protect the Arab population. I somehow think that Len's tears at the end of the film were even more related to that second broken promise than to the first. A beautiful moment, I must admit.

I come from Palestine, when I started watching this mini-series, I was mentally prepared for the common western biased production of The Palestine cause, I am surprised at the end, that this was not only unbiased to any party, but also, shed more in my conscious on the British position, the Jews misery in Germany and later their perspective to occupy our lands and renaming our country. The drama was great, not a common Hollywood Bad Guys Vs.Good Guys BS. It gave me an urge to watch again and again and show it to my parents, relatives who are all refugees, a great and intelligent production, I strongly recommend it to anyone. If I was not Palestinian, or involved in this story, I still find a great story line, intelligent script and acting.

This is the most biased and hate filled series that has ever disgraced televisions and computers.The series' thin attempt at remaining impartial in a complicated conflict only demonizes Israelis. I believe it to be the worst example of anti-Israel propaganda that's ever seen on television.Every Palestinian is portrayed as a victim, ever Israeli as their callous oppressors. I understand that this is a mini-series not a documentary, but depicting a situation the way the director and production staff has done only adds fuel to an already warm fire. If you have had the misfortune of watching this film, please research your facts properly.

Some of the reviewers obviously based their rating on their personal political stance. There is a reason that this time period and the events covered in this series are very seldom the topic of film or television. Inevitably it makes the Jews look bad. After all, it was the Jews that were invading. The Arabs were defending their homes. This is not a popular subject these days. All credit to the producers and staff of this series for their courageous efforts. Having gotten that out of the way, the series held my interest, entertained me, and motivated me to further research on the time and place dealt with. In my view, this makes it worthy of praise no matter how many people try to discredit it and lower the viewer rating.