There’s a few reviews that slipped our mind, following the end of the London Film Festival last Thursday — not because they’re bad films (in fact, they include two of our favorites of the festival), but because things got away from us. We’ll be talking about “A Serious Man” and Stephen Poliakoff’s “Glorious 39” shortly, but right now, we’re focusing on debut director Samuel Maoz’s Golden Lion-winning Venice Film Festival hit “Lebanon.”
Maoz is an Israeli TV director who fought, and was wounded, in the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war, and, like “Waltz With Bashir” helmer Ari Folman, has based his film on his experiences in that conflict. The film follows an Israeli tank unit as it moves deep into enemy territory, on a routine mission. Really however, it could be any war, and any nationality – the film, like this year’s other great war movie “The Hurt Locker,” looks at conflict through the eyes of the soldiers on the ground, giving a visceral experience like very few other movies.
Genre-wise, it has more in common with submarine movies than with “Saving Private Ryan” or “Black Hawk Down”: its closest cousin is probably Wolfgang Petersen’s “Das Boot”. Until the very final shot, the camera never leaves the confine of the tank – anything taking place outside is seen through gun or scope sights. It’s an idea so good you can’t believe it’s never been done before, and the claustrophobia is almost unbearable at times – you feel every bump of the tracks on the ground, and every blast of gunfire. It’s backed up by one of the best sound mixes we’ve heard in a long time: the chaos and confusion of combat have rarely been better captured on screen, and it begs to be seen on the big screen.
The four soldiers are sketched, rather than finely drawn, and in the heat of battle it could theoretically be hard to tell them apart, but Maoz does such a good job of establishing the geography within the tank that it never holds up the storytelling, and again, only aids the chaotic feeling. The performances are very strong, although it’s the smallest ones which burn brightest. Zohar Shtrauss (“Beaufort”) shines as the arrogant commander, dropping in and out of the picture, but letting his presence loom over every frame. Reymonde Amsellem has a single scene as a Lebanese mother whose family is being used as human shields, and it’s a searingly moving portrayal of grief, while Ashraf Barhom, whose portrayal of the Saudi Arabian cop was the best thing in Peter Berg’s “The Kingdom” by a country mile (seriously, it’s in the hall of fame of great performances in bad movies’), is shifty and terrifying as a Phalangist (a Christian Lebanese party allied with the Israelis) in a terrific cameo.
Keeping the tension up in something like this is no mean feat (“44 Inch Chest” is a good example of how not to do it), but it’s unrelenting here, climaxing in a perfect final shot, almost certainly one of the year’s most indelible images. Again, like “The Hurt Locker,” the film remains mostly apolitical (aside from some references to the use of phosphorous shells by the Israeli army, which continues today), confident that, by focusing on the human cost of war, it won’t need to beat you over the head to make its points.
Indeed, the only missteps in the film are when it strays from this restrained path: there’s a clunky glimpse of the World Trade Center in a travel agent midway through the movie, and there’s a sentimental moment near the end that jars. But, all in all, it’s a hugely successful picture, worthy of every bit of praise it received in Venice, and pretty much a must-see [A-]
oh sweet, another movie about how hard it is to be an Israeli soldier in a tank running over children in the street.
you are 100 with that statement. fuck this shitty ass representation of what its really like over there. i was stuck in lebanon during the 2006 war with those bloodsuckers. you guys have absolutely no clue what in the fuck they are actually doing. so please shove this movie up your ass and the director who should should shine a light on the blind spot this blog and the rest of this world shares. isreal is in the wrong and this movie is just another bullshit propaganda film.
Today leading Israeli director Kosashvili rubbished this film as well but frof the opposite reason: "The recent films all have a common theme: they show Israel spitting at itself and airing Israel's dirty laundry for all to see in public."
Unfortunately, the international community assumes these reflective works are meant to be seen as condemnations of Zionism or Judaism or whatever. Their expectations often determine their responses.
While it's true some Israeli filmmakers recognize that films which denounce Israel will have more success in the international market, there is another aspect: it is almost impossible today to even make a film without international co-producers; there's simply not enough government or private sector support for the film industry and our population is too small to support multiple productions. Most young filmmakers quickly learn that if they want Dutch or French financial support they cannot make a film which is too pro-Israel.
The result is awful, politicized movies which are tailor-made for guilt ridden Europeans and the "Commenter Abbis" of the world. Naturally the above two groups become ecstatic when they see Israeli movies which provide justification for their prejudices and stick it to their political opponents. Meanwhile the average Israeli votes with his feet and watches American movies instead.