Avi Nesher is set to bring a wartime survival story to the screen, taking the helm of Jagman Productions’ adaptation of Bruce Henderson’s best-seller Sons and Soldiers.

Jagman Productions and producer Josh Green have acquired the rights to the book, according to reports, with the acclaimed Israeli filmmaker attached to direct. The project draws from Henderson’s account of a small group of German-born Jewish refugees who fled Nazi-occupied Europe, rebuilt their lives in the United States in the 1930s, and then faced the war from a new side after America entered the conflict.

This adaptation arrives with built-in dramatic force: a story of refugees who escaped one front of history only to return and confront it in uniform.

That premise gives the film a sharp emotional edge. It sits at the intersection of war drama, immigrant history, and personal reckoning. Rather than following generals or battlefield strategy, the source material centers on young men shaped by displacement, identity, and the pull of a homeland that had already cast them out. For filmmakers, that creates room for an intimate story with high-stakes historical weight.

Key Facts

  • Jagman Productions and producer Josh Green have acquired the adaptation rights to Sons and Soldiers.
  • Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher is set to direct the project.
  • The film adapts Bruce Henderson’s best-selling book.
  • The story follows German-born Jewish refugees who resettled in America and later served after the U.S. entered World War II.

Nesher’s involvement signals an ambition that goes beyond straightforward period reconstruction. He brings a reputation for character-driven storytelling, and that matters for material rooted in exile, trauma, and moral urgency. The combination of a recognized director, a known nonfiction source, and a true-story framework gives the project clear awards-season potential, even at this early stage.

The next questions center on casting, screenplay details, and how closely the adaptation will track Henderson’s book. Those decisions will shape whether Sons and Soldiers lands as a conventional war film or something more resonant: a story about what nations ask of refugees, and what refugees choose to give back. In an industry still searching for historical dramas that feel immediate, this one already carries unusual weight.