“RAW AND VISCERAL”
Starring: Yoav Donat, Itay Tiran, Oshri Cohen, Michael Moshonov
Directed by: Samuel Moaz
Written by: Samuel Moaz
MPAA Rating: R for disturbing bloody violence, language including sexual references, and some nudity.
Genre: War Drama, Foreign in Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian language
Running Time: 1hr 34min
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Classics
By John Delia
Based on a true account, the movie Lebanon comes to the screen with a disturbing, harrowing, claustrophobic view of combat through the eyes of a tank crew. Packed with action, drama with taught situations, the film entertains by taking the viewer into battle and allowing us to be a voyeur of this emotional war. If entered, this film should be nominated for Best Foreign Film by the Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The story takes place in June of 1982 at the beginning of the First Lebanon War where an Israeli tank has been ordered to seek out hostiles that have ground units pinned down. The ground leader orders the tank to proceed to a small town that has been bombarded by the Israeli Air Force to lead a clean up of remaining enemy. The team is made up of Shmuel (Yoav Donat), the gunner, Assi (Itay Tiran) the commander, Hertzel (Oshri Cohen) the loader and Yigal (Michael Moshonov) the driver each in their early twenties ad have never seen combat. When, the simple mission gets out of control a struggle begins to save the ground troops and control the chaos inside the tank.
Lebanon starts out as an interesting look at the inside of a tank, a fairly stable crew and a view of the outside through the gunner’s eyepiece. As the movie gets played out I started to get quite claustrophobic with the camera set in the middle of the main compartment and shifting from character to character as they performed each of their duties. Then Writer-director Samuel Maoz puts the audience into a spin when the first sign of combat begins. Here I felt like I was being thrown about as the war violence escalated and the feeling of being trapped set in.
Maoz makes the movie an emotional battle within the audience and the players on the screen. His ability to put the viewer in the awful cockpit filled with swill, cigarette smoke, sweat and fear as the men fight for their lives is very commendable. I loved the characters each with a different personality and stake in getting the job done while trying to stay alive.
The movie is rated R for disturbing bloody violence, language including sexual references, and some nudity and is so gut wrenching that it should only be viewed by mature adults.
FINAL ANALYSIS:Â Lebanon stands atop of my list for best foreign film. (5 of 5)