Lebanon (Levanon) (2010)
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 98
Fresh: 88 | Rotten: 10
A powerful and personal account of war on the front line, writer-director Samuel Maoz takes the viewer inside an Israeli tank to deliver an exhausting, original film.
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 22
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 0
A powerful and personal account of war on the front line, writer-director Samuel Maoz takes the viewer inside an Israeli tank to deliver an exhausting, original film.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
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Movie Info
The First Lebanon War - June, 1982. A lone tank is dispatched to search a hostile town that has already been bombarded by the Israeli Air Force. What seems to be a simple mission gradually spins out of control. Shmuel the gunner, Assi the commander, Herzl the loader and Yigal the driver are the tank's crew, four 20-something boys who have never fought in a war and are now operating a killing machine. Though trying to remain brave, the boys are pushed to their mental limits as they struggle to
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Cast
-
Yoav Donat
Shmulik -
Itay Tiran
Assi -
Oshri Cohen
Hertzel -
Ashraf Barhom
Phalangist Member -
Reymond Amsallem
Lebanese Mother -
Michael Moshonov
Yigal -
Zohar Strauss
Jamil -
Dudu Tassa
Syrian Captive
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Lebanon (Levanon) Trailer & Photos
All Critics (101) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (88) | Rotten (10) | DVD (3)
We can smell the sweat, urine and diesel fuel in Lebanon. We can taste the exhaust, the metallic tang of explosive fumes from a shell ejected from the cannon.
Top CriticThere's a bit too much of the tight close-up of sweat- and soot-stained faces trembling with emotion and doubt, but there's no mistaking or escaping this movie's powerful impact.
A filmmaking challenge that a cynic might dismiss as "Das Tank" if it didn't offer a scalding moral challenge in the bargain.
It is a grisly experience, and one of the greatest war films I have ever seen.
The limited perspective of the world outside, combined with the claustrophobic, clammy interior of the rumbling tank, immediately generate a tremendous tension, and the film wastes no time in ratcheting up the stress.
Despite the film's staginess and conventionality, Maoz does a powerful job capturing the countenances of his soldiers in resonating close-ups.
It's amazing how much tension can be built up in such a small space.
Una aproximación a la traumática crueldad de un conflicto bélico narrada exclusivamente desde el interior de un tanque de guerra. La experiencia es tensa, agobiante y angustiante, casi como la guerra misma.
Physical, visceral, intimate, and even sensual, Lebnaon, a highlight of Israeli cinema of the past decade, is a combat film like no other war film you have seen before
An impressive claustrophobic and frightful depiction of war's insanity.
Blood, sweat and oil...the only thing worse than the dark, hellish, odorous claustrophobia of the tank's innards is the tunnel vision afforded by the gun-sight...[Blu-ray]
It's a strong film, complex in many ways, and seems to me to come from a genuinely stricken conscience. But in its formal probity, Lebanon turns into a moral dodge.
It works so strenuously to deliver its message that it threatens to short-circuit what otherwise could have been a gut-punch of a film.
While it captures the confusion and horror experienced by these young soldiers, what, after all, is it saying? That war brutalises soldiers? We know that.
This brilliant, explosive drama is every bit as terrifying, brutal and shocking as The Hurt Locker.
Rarely has a film so intensely conveyed the catastrophic shock to the system a first time on a battlefield must wield.
Watching Lebanon is more poignant armed with the knowledge that we're witnessing Maoz's own experiences as a young Israeli soldier during the war -- he's the gunner of the story.
Lebanon certainly qualifies as one of the best films about modern warfare with its unflinching depiction of the trade-off between duty and humanity.
Powerfully shot from within the tank, this unflinching war drama is unforgettable.
An unforgettable piece of cinema; a haunting experience that doubles as the document that - 24 years on - finally laid the filmmaker's ghosts to rest.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of this film is that it's a coproduction between Israel, Lebanon, Germany and France.
It's a strong addition to the small number of anti-war, pro-peace Israeli films being produced at the moment.
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Foreign Titles
- Lebanon (DE)
- Lebanon (Levanone) (UK)
