Ghosts of Beirut

After watching the first episode, I read this "review" on the IMDb page:

"Maybe it gets better, maybe 
19 May 2023

The struggle in the Middle East is shown here and it starts with a believable background story in the first episode. The other story is of an American ambassador attempting to assist in the peace, and it's not going so well.

Not much else happens, I'm sure it'll progress slowly as a long drawn out burn so that by the season finale the audience can all agree how bad this terrorist was, and how he needed to be stopped.

As far as production values, it's ok, small tv budget. The acting is ok, basically everything is just average at best. I was hoping for another Homeland or similar series with action and loads of good characters.

Here we just have the two male leads in their own stories passing time. Not interesting. 3/10 as it can't keep a captive audience and you'll be using the FFW button to frequently skip ahead through simple scenes. One and done."

Believe me when I say, it does NOT "get better". This is NOT a made-up drama - this is REAL LIFE and real life often does NOT "get better". I'm guessing that the writer of the review is young and has no concept of the modern history of the Middle East!

I have lived in Israel for most of the past 42 years (29 as a citizen) and was in Israel in 1981 and 1982 when what you see in Episode 1 actually happened. Though I was in Canada when the US Embassy was bombed and Robert Ames was killed and in the USA when the US Marine Barracks in Beirut was bombed, I remember it all like it was yesterday, since so much of "it" continues throughout the Middle East (primarily Lebanon, Syria, & Iraq).

The production is an interesting concept - with actors playing the parts of what are, for me, well-known, recognizable people, such as Imad Mughniyeh and Robert Ames - but also with real experts who were either there or involved in some way describing the situation and the people involved.

If you are too young to remember or simply don't keep up with what has been going on in the Middle East for a long time, I do hope you will watch this program. And remember, the "characters" portrayed were/are REAL people... So don't mistake this for some TV drama written by Hollywood writers. If you want to know more, you can find most, or even all, about it by doing some simple Internet research! 

I am looking forward to the other three episodes to see if they match my memories... And by the way, with all the hatred directed towards Israel and the almost constant attacks on our population (I have lived in Jerusalem through the First and Second "Intifadas" and still today), I still feel safer here than anywhere else I have lived, including several locations in the United States!