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View Full Version : Lebanon - the soldiers journey



Tricky
01-Sep-2010, 10:46 AM
Has anyone seen this film? its been compared to "das boot" in a tank, its set during the 1982 Lebanon war & is filmed entirely within an Israeli tank, its based on the directors own experiences as a tanky in that war. Its very claustrophobic, the only glimpses of the outside world you see are through the tanks gun sights & periscopes, and you see some pretty horrific things which cleary affect the young, inexperienced tank crew who dont want to be there. Its well acted, there are a few flaws but nothing glaring, and it stirs up emotions that not many films manage to do, I cant get the image of the wounded donkey out of my head :( Despite being an Israeli film it isnt biased either, it doesnt reek of pro Israel propaganda, its just a matter of fact look at war.
Well worth a watch anyway!

Legion2213
01-Sep-2010, 02:03 PM
A few guardian types tried to make out it was pro-israeli in nature.

The clip I saw seemed to be about the horrors of war though.

Did you DL it, or is it available on DVD?

Speaking of "tank" films "The Beast" is wonderfull...Soviet tank crew getting hunted in Afghanistan by Taleban types after becoming seperated from their unit (and pissing off the locals after committing a few attrocities).

Tricky
01-Sep-2010, 02:43 PM
Well I guess with the film being told from the Israeli side it could be interpreted as being pro-Israeli, but thats not the overall view I got of it, there is very little politics in the film, you never hear what the overall objective is, the radio in the tank pipes up from time to time so you hear snippets of their orders from higher up the command chain & the soldiers are questioning what they are being asked to do, but thats all you get. The first half of the film is more focused on Israeli war crimes in Lebanon, shooting civilians, bombing towns & being sneaky about getting round international law with regards to weapons they use.
I picked it up on DVD in my local Asda anyway!

AcesandEights
01-Sep-2010, 03:00 PM
Speaking of "tank" films "The Beast" is wonderfull...Soviet tank crew getting hunted in Afghanistan by Taleban types after becoming seperated from their unit (and pissing off the locals after committing a few attrocities).

That sounds damned interesting. I've read a book or two about the Soviet invasion and have always found the topic grimly interesting.

Legion2213
01-Sep-2010, 03:04 PM
Aces, It's called "the beast of war" in the US for some reason. It's just "the beast" over here in the UK. :)

Deffo worth a watch IMO, I enjoyed it greatly, it's quite gritty. :cool:

AcesandEights
01-Sep-2010, 03:17 PM
Aces, It's called "the beast of war" in the US for some reason. It's just "the beast" over here in the UK. :)

Deffo worth a watch IMO, I enjoyed it greatly, it's quite gritty. :cool:

Thanks for the heads up, Legion! I just took a look over at Amazon and it's very well reviewed! It's a definite pick up for me.