Jagman Productions and producer Josh Green have acquired the rights to adapt Bruce Henderson’s The Son and the Soldier, with acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher set to direct.
Henderson’s book follows a small group of young German-born Jewish refugees who flee Nazi-occupied Europe and resettle in America in the 1930s. When America entered the war, they were recruited into the Army and trained as interrogators and interpreters at Camp Ritchie. At great risk, they returned to war-torn Europe to fight for their adopted homeland and the families they left behind. This book became a New York Times bestseller.
Based on original interviews and archival material, Sons and Soldiers follows the Ritchie Boys’ journey from refuge to combat, and their desperate efforts to find their surviving family members in the final weeks of the war. According to postwar U.S. military reports, nearly 60 percent of reliable intelligence collected during the war in Europe came from the Ritchie Boys.
Nesher previously wrote and directed “Images of Victory,” a historical drama centered on the Battle of Nitzanim during Israel’s War of Independence, which was nominated for 15 Israeli Academy Awards. Additional credits include “The Other Story,” “Past Life” and “The Matchmaker.” His latest film, “Our Loves,” is scheduled for release in 2026.
“This book reveals a largely forgotten chapter in the history of World War II: how Jews and other refugees fleeing Nazi oppression became some of the Allies’ most effective intelligence assets, paralleling the broader wartime of World War II with an intimate, personal, and deeply human journey,” Green said. “This story celebrates not only the Ritchie Boys, who were mostly Jewish, German and Austrian, but also all the other unsung heroes and European refugees who risked everything to return to the fight and helped change the course of the war.”
“We feel this story is urgently needed at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise,” Nesher said. “This production challenges long-standing stereotypes that reduce Jews to manipulative and financial figures, and instead reveals a history of courage, intelligence, and direct involvement on the battlefield. The Ritchie Boys represent a form of warfare rarely seen on screen, one in which language, psychology, and identity are A decisive force, not a secondary measure. This film aims to advance that dimension with clarity and force, making it as immediate and moving as Saving Private Ryan, while also offering a perspective that feels as important as it does.”
Green’s recent credits include executive producing the Sam Pollard documentaries I Was Born This Way (co-directed by Daniel Junge) and The League, as well as An Fu’s US-China co-production Confetti. He is currently working on a macro version of Reginald Lewis’ memoir “Let’s All White People Have Fun?” written by Oscar winner Kevin Willmott, as well as Dr. Ronald Mallett’s memoir “The Time Traveler.” His additional projects include biopics on Cuban ballet icon Alicia Alonso and college basketball coach and broadcasting legend Al McGuire, as well as a documentary series exploring the history of Willowbrook State Developmental Center.
Green is repped by Greg Pedicin of Untitled Entertainment. Nesher’s agent is Gersh.
