Lebanon (film)
Encyclopedia
Lebanon is an Israeli war film
directed by Samuel Maoz
. It won the Leone d'Oro
at the 66th Venice International Film Festival
, becoming the first Israeli-produced film to have won that honour. In Israel
itself the film has caused some controversy. The film was nominated for 10 Ophir Awards, including Best Film. The film also won the 14th Annual Satyajit Ray Award.
Maoz based the film on his experience as a young Israel
i conscript during the war in Lebanon
in 1982. It has been described as an anti-war
movie by British newspaper The Guardian
.
, and the view from inside through the gunsight
(every change in the horizontal and vertical viewing direction is accompanied by the hydraulic whine of the traversing gun turret
). The film is set during the 1982 Lebanon war - the same war as in Waltz with Bashir and the film Beaufort
.
There are four Israeli soldiers inside: the driver in the tank's hull, the loader, the gunner and the commander in the turret. Part of the time, there is also the body of a dead Israeli soldier (kept there until it is taken away by helicopter), a Syrian POW
, a visiting higher officer, and a visiting Phalangist (Lebanese Maronite Catholic allied with Israel) who threatens the POW.
The duty of the soldiers is to clear a Lebanese area from lebanese citizens. They are instructed to use phosphorus grenades that are forbidden by international treaty, but to use a code word for them, to conceal their use.
The gunner has never fired the tank's cannon in a war situation, and is hesitant at first. As a result, a fellow Israeli soldier is killed. The soldiers have to cope with the deteriorating state of the tank, the heat, bad atmosphere and small space inside, occasional failure of the communication equipment, navigational problems, and mutual quarrels.
at the 66th Venice International Film Festival
, Maoz said: "I dedicate this award to the thousands of people all over the world who, like me, come back from war safe and sound. Apparently they are fine, they work, get married, have children. But inside the memory will remain stabbed in their soul."
Maoz, when speaking to The Observer
stated that he opposes the Israel-related protest call at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
: "The point of a film like mine is to open a dialogue, to get people talking to each other about important issues. This is something you can't do if films are boycotted. It makes no sense to boycott art. Maybe I wouldn't have won if Jane Fonda was on the jury, but she wasn't." (Note that the open letter at the center of the protest against the spotlighting of Tel Aviv did not call for a boycott of the festival or any of its films.)
The Guardian
described it as a "controversial choice", noting that some commentators in Israel have "raised concerns that the film will deter young men from volunteering for the army." The Golden Lion is the highest award given to an Israeli film to date. Maoz says many Israeli figures were against Lebanon even being featured at the Venice International Film Festival. The Venice jury was chaired by Ang Lee
, who had won the Golden Lion award in Venice in 2005 with Brokeback Mountain
and in 2007 with Lust, Caution. Lebanon competed against 24 other entries. The win in Venice caused a boost in the film's popularity at the Toronto International Film Festival
.
The New York Times
described Lebanon as "an astonishing piece of cinema". Variety
magazine said Lebanon is "the boldest and best" of recent Israeli films based upon the Lebanon wars.
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
directed by Samuel Maoz
Samuel Maoz
Samuel Maoz is an Israeli film director. His2009 film, Lebanon won the Golden Lion at the 66th Venice International Film Festival.-Biography:...
. It won the Leone d'Oro
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
at the 66th Venice International Film Festival
66th Venice International Film Festival
The 66th annual Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, was opened on September 2, 2009 by Baarìa - La porta del vento. International competition jury, led by Ang Lee, awarded Leone d'Oro to Lebanon...
, becoming the first Israeli-produced film to have won that honour. In Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
itself the film has caused some controversy. The film was nominated for 10 Ophir Awards, including Best Film. The film also won the 14th Annual Satyajit Ray Award.
Maoz based the film on his experience as a young Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i conscript during the war in Lebanon
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
in 1982. It has been described as an anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
movie by British newspaper The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.
Plot
The film depicts the inside of a tankTank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
, and the view from inside through the gunsight
Sight (device)
A sight is a device used to assist aligning or aim weapons, surveying instruments, or other items by eye. Sights can be a simple set or system of markers that have to be aligned together as well as aligned with the target...
(every change in the horizontal and vertical viewing direction is accompanied by the hydraulic whine of the traversing gun turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
). The film is set during the 1982 Lebanon war - the same war as in Waltz with Bashir and the film Beaufort
Beaufort (film)
Beaufort is a 2007 Israeli war film. The film was directed by Joseph Cedar and was co-written by Cedar and Ron Leshem, based on Leshem's If there's a Heaven...
.
There are four Israeli soldiers inside: the driver in the tank's hull, the loader, the gunner and the commander in the turret. Part of the time, there is also the body of a dead Israeli soldier (kept there until it is taken away by helicopter), a Syrian POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, a visiting higher officer, and a visiting Phalangist (Lebanese Maronite Catholic allied with Israel) who threatens the POW.
The duty of the soldiers is to clear a Lebanese area from lebanese citizens. They are instructed to use phosphorus grenades that are forbidden by international treaty, but to use a code word for them, to conceal their use.
The gunner has never fired the tank's cannon in a war situation, and is hesitant at first. As a result, a fellow Israeli soldier is killed. The soldiers have to cope with the deteriorating state of the tank, the heat, bad atmosphere and small space inside, occasional failure of the communication equipment, navigational problems, and mutual quarrels.
Cast
- Oshri CohenOshri CohenOshri Cohen is an Israeli actor.He started his way as a kid at the Beit Lessin Theater in Tel Aviv.In 2006 Cohen won the Israeli Theater's award for "Promise of the Year."...
– Hertzel - Zohar Shtrauss – Jamil
- Michael MoshonovMichael MoshonovMichael Moshonov is an Israeli actor, singer, musician and TV host. Moshonov won the Ophir Award for Best Actor twice, for Lost Islands and for The Human Resources Manager.-Biography:...
– Yigal - Itay TiranItay TiranItay Tiran is an Israeli stage and screen actor, known for his position against Israeli settlements and for his roles in Forgiveness , Beaufort , The Debt , Homeland , Lebanon , and The Promise .Tiran is one of the most acclaimed Israeli actors of his day...
– Assi - Yoav Donat – Shmulik
- Reymond Amsalem - Lebanese Mother
- Dudu Tassa – the SyriaSyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n prisoner - Ashraf BarhomAshraf BarhomAshraf Barhom is a Palestinian actor from Tarshiha, which is in Galilee. He has starred in Paradise Now and The Syrian Bride. In 2007, he gained critical recognition for appearing alongside Jamie Foxx in the movie The Kingdom as Col. Faris Al-Ghazi. He has since appeared in Israeli films such as...
– 1st Phalangist
Reception
After winning the Golden LionGolden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
at the 66th Venice International Film Festival
66th Venice International Film Festival
The 66th annual Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, was opened on September 2, 2009 by Baarìa - La porta del vento. International competition jury, led by Ang Lee, awarded Leone d'Oro to Lebanon...
, Maoz said: "I dedicate this award to the thousands of people all over the world who, like me, come back from war safe and sound. Apparently they are fine, they work, get married, have children. But inside the memory will remain stabbed in their soul."
Maoz, when speaking to The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
stated that he opposes the Israel-related protest call at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
2009 Toronto International Film Festival
The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival, was held held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 2009. The opening night gala presented the Charles Darwin biography Creation...
: "The point of a film like mine is to open a dialogue, to get people talking to each other about important issues. This is something you can't do if films are boycotted. It makes no sense to boycott art. Maybe I wouldn't have won if Jane Fonda was on the jury, but she wasn't." (Note that the open letter at the center of the protest against the spotlighting of Tel Aviv did not call for a boycott of the festival or any of its films.)
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
described it as a "controversial choice", noting that some commentators in Israel have "raised concerns that the film will deter young men from volunteering for the army." The Golden Lion is the highest award given to an Israeli film to date. Maoz says many Israeli figures were against Lebanon even being featured at the Venice International Film Festival. The Venice jury was chaired by Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
, who had won the Golden Lion award in Venice in 2005 with Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...
and in 2007 with Lust, Caution. Lebanon competed against 24 other entries. The win in Venice caused a boost in the film's popularity at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
.
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described Lebanon as "an astonishing piece of cinema". Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine said Lebanon is "the boldest and best" of recent Israeli films based upon the Lebanon wars.
See also
- Beaufort (film)Beaufort (film)Beaufort is a 2007 Israeli war film. The film was directed by Joseph Cedar and was co-written by Cedar and Ron Leshem, based on Leshem's If there's a Heaven...
- Cup Final (film)Cup Final (film)Cup Final is a 1991 Israeli film set during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel.-Plot:A young Israeli soldier, Cohen, is kidnapped by a group of Palestinian fighters who hold him as an hostage during the conflict...
- Waltz with Bashir (Animated film)Waltz with BashirWaltz with Bashir is a 2008 Israeli animated documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman. It depicts Folman in search of his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War....
External links
- IONCINEMA.com interview with Samuel Maoz for Lebanon
- http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100825/REVIEWS/100829989/1023 review, Roger Ebert
- http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/5473/ review, BFIBFIBFI may refer to:* Benefit Fraud Inspectorate, a UK government agency* The IATA airport code for Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington* British Film Institute, a British charitable organisation...