Very disappointing...

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Expected more

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The story told is set during Israel's 1982 war in Lebanon. It is filmed entirely inside an Israeli tank placing us amongst the claustrophobic restrictions and imprisonment that would be experienced by the crew.Young, inexperienced Israeli conscripts operate the tank and find it hard to deal with the horror of war. They witness the carnage wreaked upon many Lebanese civilians and the immoral, brutality of aspects of the Lebanese militia. The soldiers experience the fear of war as their tank becomes stranded in hostile territory. The director took part in the war and the film is therefore semi-autobiographical.

Some things are a bit artificial and take away from the experience in a bid to make it more "fine art" sort of film - overly long shots of sunflower fields, close-ups on actors' eyes, etc.The story and characters are a bit typical like the weak commander, mistakes and poor judgement in battle or death of a character in a specially tragic or sensitive moment. There is essentially no story or character development. The little there is, was already done in "Beaufort" two years prior.One should abstract oneself from any political context when viewing this film and judge it for what it is. However, the sensitivity of the topic has obviously contributed to the film's acclaim.Great work by virtually all of the actors should be noted though. This could have been a much better film if the actors were given more space (in terms of plot and characters) to really shine.

A low budget Israeli war movie, 'Lebanon' tells the story of a tank crew, but we hardly ever see the outside of the tank. At times, the continual world-view-by-periscope seems a bit gimmicky, although one suspects the main rationale for the narrow focus is not artistic but financial. It does help maintain the claustrophobic atmosphere, and the central section of the film fizzes with tension. But the most horrific moments derive from the presence of a cartoonish villain, and the centrepiece of the story - about ordinary men conscripted into the role of soldier for which they are ill-prepared psychologically - lacks the subtlety, context and heart of the sublime 'Waltz with Bashir', which of course bypassed the costs of recreating a war by the use of animation as a medium. That film is great - this one has some merit, but won't really tell you anything you don't already know.

This movie is about the gunner in an Israel army tank during the Lebanon. The gunner is an pacifist who rather see his fellow soldiers massacred by terrorist rather then opening fire. Apart from that the movie is unrealistic, slow and boring. The only reason many like this movie is it's obvious anti Israel theme. The message seems to be that if you choose to surrender to terrorism you're a good guy. I'm sure that's why it receives so high rankings in Europe. Boring, stupid and provocative.The perspective is all from inside the tank, and most of the time we see the world trough the eyes of the gunners sights. This is achieved by putting crap sound effects acting as the turret servos, a black frame around the picture and a crosshair. This is not very well done and technically speaking and the whole movie is obviously a very low budget production. The realism when it comes to tank warfare is close to zero.