We were lucky enough to squeeze into a packed afternoon screening of Lebanon at the last minute, but the race across town was certainly worth it. For Israeli writer/director Samuel Moaz’s first feature, which picked up the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival, proved to be a rather remarkable piece of film-making.

Lebanon

It’s June 1982, and Israel has embarked on their invasion of Lebanon. A platoon is dispatched to search enemy territory, but Moaz’s focus is firmly on – and, indeed, in – the tank. Hungry, tired and already war-weary, the four-man crew try to carry out their duties in an increasingly hostile environment. As they witness real human horror through the narrow yet all-seeing focus of the tank’s gun turret, they struggle to cope with the magnitude of suffering they are helping to create.

Based on Moaz’s own experiences as a young soldier, Lebanon is a portrait of warfare on an intensely human scale. By setting the entire film inside the decrepit tank, the damaging effects of conflict are distilled down to their most basic form; four young men desperate to go home, fighting for a cause they don’t understand, with the world falling apart around them. It’s effective, moving stuff, expertly played by the young cast who showcase a terror and disbelief that’s amplified given their claustrophobic surrounding.

Lebanon is not intended as a factual dissection of the whys, wherefores and politics of the conflict, but rather as a psychological exploration of his own experiences. And, as such, its an involving and thought-provoking viewing experience that leaves no doubt that casualties of war go much deeper than physical scars. (4 stars)