“Be Strong” Isn’t Left or Right – It’s a Gut-Wrenching Tribute to the Heroism of the Hostages

The new Israeli documentary “Tehiye Hazak” (“Be Strong”) is being called the most powerful film yet to come out of the October 7 war, a raw, apolitical, deeply human portrait of the three hostages accidentally killed by IDF fire while trying to escape Hamas: Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer Talalka.

No finger-pointing, no slogans, no propaganda - the film refuses to be weaponized by either side. Instead, it reconstructs their final weeks in captivity with brutal honesty: the suffocating tunnels, the forced propaganda videos played exactly as they were recorded, the terror, the hunger, and the unbelievable courage that drove three terrified men to risk everything for freedom.

You meet them as people, not as victims:

Yotam, the gentle metalhead with the infectious smile who kept everyone’s spirits alive.

Alon, quiet and unbreakable, the calm center of the storm.

Samer, the Bedouin Israeli who chose to escape alongside his Jewish brothers without hesitation.

The film also weaves in testimonies from returned hostages and a Holocaust survivor enduring a “second Shoah,” delivering scenes that leave entire theaters in tears.Reviewers say audiences sit frozen in their seats, then walk out proud, devastated, and forever changed.

"Be Strong” doesn’t tell you what to think – it simply reminds you who these three extraordinary young men were, and what the world lost when they were gone