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Dec 27, 2014Nursebob rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Set during the first few days of the Lebanon War, Maoz’s harrowing film begins with an endless field of bright sunflowers beneath a dazzling blue sky. But upon closer observation you realize that all the blooms are facing downward as if afraid; or in mourning. This opening scene, along with a small denouement at the end, will be the only time we experience fresh air and natural light as the rest of the movie takes place within the confines of an army tank manned by four scared and inexperienced soldiers. Completely unprepared for the realities of war, the combination of gunfire and frayed nerves begins to show as military protocol breaks down and the men slowly give in to despair. But when they find themselves cut off from their battalion and surrounded by enemy snipers panicky suspense gives way to all out horror. Maoz masterfully maintains an aura of icy tension with the camera never straying far from a frightened face or nervous remark. His depiction of the tank’s interior with it’s sweating walls and dimly lit dials turns a widescreen presentation into a stiflingly claustrophobic experience; you can almost smell the oily fumes and sweating bodies. The men’s only connections with the outside world are the conflicting orders they receive over a staticky radio and the occasional appearance of their commanding officer who drops through the tank’s hatch in a blaze of sunlight like a divine messenger. At one point they’re required to transport the corpse of a recently killed soldier, at another they play jailers to a captured Syrian fighter who is just as terrified as they are. But the film’s true genius is the way in which it depicts the brutality of war through a telescopic gunsight; eviscerated bodies, dead children, burning homes...all the horrors surrounding the men are viewed through a pair of crosshairs with the screams reduced to muffled sighs by the tank’s metal walls. At several key points throughout the film civilians and soldiers alike stare directly into the lens, their blank haggard faces speaking volumes. Lebanon goes far beyond mere partisanship to deliver a damning indictment on the madness of war and the many casualties it inflicts. An unflinching condemnation delivered by a highly disciplined director.