Beaufort

Directors: Joseph Cedar
Starring: Oshri Cohen, Itai Tiran, Alon Abutbol
Year: 2007

BEAUFORT tells the story of LIRAZ LIBERTI, the 22 year-old outpost commander, and his troops in the months before Israel pulled out of Lebanon. This is not a story of war, but of retreat. This is a story with no enemy, only an amorphous entity that drops bombs from the skies while terrified young soldiers must find a way to carry out their mission until their very last minutes on that mountaintop. As LIRAZ lays the explosives which would destroy that very same structure that his friends had died defending, he witnesses the collapse of all he's been taught as an officer, and his soldier's mental and physical disintegration.

Comments: The best part of this movie is that is aptly captures, in a timeless and universal way, the sense of isolation and despair of a group of young men on a doomed mission. While the film has a political point of view, it doesn't beat the viewer over the head, and provides a glimpse into a particularly tumultuous time in Israeli history.

Recommended.