Lebanon | reviews, news & interviews
Lebanon
Lebanon
Tank's-eye-view of the horrors of war
Friday, 14 May 2010
Monstrous apparition: an Israeli tank invades Lebanon
A field of sunflowers hang their heads, as though in shame or sorrow, to the deep thrum of a single chord in the film's opening shot, at once beautiful and threatening. But that is about the only breath of fresh air in the whole of the movie. Set on the first day of the 1982 Lebanon War, it proceeds for the rest of its duration to trap us, along with four terrified young Israeli soldiers, inside the confines of their tank, a monstrous apparition fetid with stale cigarette smoke, sweat and blood and a fifth character in its own right.
A field of sunflowers hang their heads, as though in shame or sorrow, to the deep thrum of a single chord in the film's opening shot, at once beautiful and threatening. But that is about the only breath of fresh air in the whole of the movie. Set on the first day of the 1982 Lebanon War, it proceeds for the rest of its duration to trap us, along with four terrified young Israeli soldiers, inside the confines of their tank, a monstrous apparition fetid with stale cigarette smoke, sweat and blood and a fifth character in its own right.
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Film
Nightbitch review - Mother's life as a dog
Amy Adams hits it out of the park in Marielle Heller's film
Rumours review - pallid satire on geopolitics
The Guy Maddin team's caustic mainstream spoof misfires
Grand Theft Hamlet review - intriguing documentary about Shakespeare as multi-player shooter game
How two jobless actors created a novel Hamlet inside the game Grand Theft Auto
theartsdesk Q&A: filmmaker Payal Kapadia on 'All We Imagine as Light'
An in-depth conversation with the director of the instant Indian arthouse classic
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl review - mordant seriocomedy about buried abuse
Rungano Nyoni writes and directs a vitriolic story about the Zambian middle class
Blu-ray: Juggernaut
Witty and exciting British thriller, brilliantly cast
Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet, Tate Modern review - an exhaustive and exhausting show
Flashing lights, beeps and buzzes are diverting, but quickly pall
Blu-ray: Black Tuesday
Edward G. Robinson excels as a psychopathic gang boss who escapes Death Row
Conclave review - secrets and lies in the Vatican's inner sanctum
Superb adaptation of Robert Harris's novel
All We Imagine as Light review - tender portrait of three women struggling to survive in modern Mumbai
Payal Kapadia's debut feature is delicate, beautifully acted and visually striking
Witches review - beyond the broomstick, the cat, and the pointy hat
A documentary probes the links between stigmatised women and postpartum depression
Wicked review - overly busy if beautifully sung cliffhanger
Musical theatre behemoth becomes an outsized film - and this is just part one
Add comment