Lebanon (Levanon) (2010)

90% of critics liked it
(97 reviews)
71% of users liked it
(4,963 ratings)

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… More 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 survive in a situation they cannot contain, and try not to lose their humanity in the chaos of war. Writer-director Samuel Maoz's raw and visceral film is based on his own experiences as a twenty year old novice soldier serving in the Israeli army during the 1982 Lebanon war. Using his own vivid recollections to bring us inside an Israeli tank during the first 24 hours of the invasion, Maoz restricts the film's action entirely to the tank's interior and shows us the outside world only-as the four young soldiers themselves see it-through the lens of a periscopic gun sight. The cathartic process of writing and directing LEBANON allowed Maoz to finally free himself of the events that he had experienced twenty-five years earlier.-- (C) Sony Pictures Classics

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Samuel Maoz
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Aug 6, 2010 Limited
On DVD: Jan 18, 2011
Studio: Sony Classic Pictures

Critic Reviews

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
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.
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com
There'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.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
A filmmaking challenge that a cynic might dismiss as "Das Tank" if it didn't offer a scalding moral challenge in the bargain.
Tom Horgen, Minneapolis Star Tribune
It is a grisly experience, and one of the greatest war films I have ever seen.
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
Despite the film's staginess and conventionality, Maoz does a powerful job capturing the countenances of his soldiers in resonating close-ups.
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post
Along with the plot's steady torment, a collection of elements reels the audience into the action to astonishing effect.
Enrique Buchichio, Uruguay Total
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.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
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
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
An impressive claustrophobic and frightful depiction of war's insanity.
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews
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]
Stuart Klawans, Nation
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.
Mike Scott, Times-Picayune
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.
Julie Rigg, MovieTime, ABC Radio National
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.
Don Groves, sbs.com.au
This brilliant, explosive drama is every bit as terrifying, brutal and shocking as The Hurt Locker.
Leigh Paatsch, Herald Sun (Australia)
Rarely has a film so intensely conveyed the catastrophic shock to the system a first time on a battlefield must wield.
Jim Mitchell, Trespass
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.
Jim Schembri, The Age (Australia)
Lebanon certainly qualifies as one of the best films about modern warfare with its unflinching depiction of the trade-off between duty and humanity.
Annette Basile, FILMINK (Australia)
Powerfully shot from within the tank, this unflinching war drama is unforgettable.
Alice Tynan, Concrete Playground
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.
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
Perhaps the most notable aspect of this film is that it's a coproduction between Israel, Lebanon, Germany and France.

Read all 24 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

c0up

'Lebanon'. A gritty and visceral look at the war in the 1980s, geniusely directed purely from the viewpoint of a group of soldiers inside one tank, with their scope / viewfinder being the only link to the outside world.
Anthony L

Lebanon is quite a unique war film in that its shot entirely from the perspective of a turret controller of a tank. This gives the viewer a voyeuristic glance at war and highlights the crews contrast of emotions. On one hand they feel trapped and claustrophobic but on the other hand… More
Lebanon is quite a unique war film in that its shot entirely from the perspective of a turret controller of a tank. This gives the viewer a voyeuristic glance at war and highlights the crews contrast of emotions. On one hand they feel trapped and claustrophobic but on the other hand they feel safe and protected. This all of course can be too much for a man, what with the heat, conflicting views and general madness and confusion that war brings. It does however make compelling viewing. A compelling, original and brilliantly devised film by Samuel Maoz - a director to look out for!
Gordon A

Throws you right into the heart of the madness of war and doesn't shy from showing there are no winners. Chastening tale which makes an excellent companion piece with 'Waltz with Bashir'.
Alireza M

Im sick of these political-war films.Always the same message.All of them are similar with just different locations and names.They should portray war from a new point of view.
Mike N

A film fraught with shameless war clichés that seems to arc toward genuine tension and intrigue, and then ending when you think the film is about to get good. Disappointing, considering the buzz, because it offered nothing new or unique while also squandering a premise with… More
A film fraught with shameless war clichés that seems to arc toward genuine tension and intrigue, and then ending when you think the film is about to get good. Disappointing, considering the buzz, because it offered nothing new or unique while also squandering a premise with potential. It was actually kind of amazing how the periscope vision - this being on a 1982 tank in Israel, mind you - would have a high-res zoom-in on so many situations and faces. The narrative was that of a really boring first-person-tank video game. There was a character moment worth a laugh, and a real sense of intensity that ratcheted up toward the end... but that ratcheting needed to happen earlier in the film, or it needed to find a less blatently didactic focus to fill the film's first 3/4 runtime. By only meting out characterization from the limited occupants of the tanks, and relying so much on the imagery from outside of the tank, the sense of claustrophobia the director clearly wanted never actually occurred. It really was just a slow tank up to Lebanon.
Jeff T

Rigorous in form, brutal in content, this jittery hothouse film takes place almost entirely in the tight confines of a tank lumbering through a war-torn town. There are occasional glimpses through the cross-hairs of the firing sight and momentary visits from outside, but the thing is… More
Rigorous in form, brutal in content, this jittery hothouse film takes place almost entirely in the tight confines of a tank lumbering through a war-torn town. There are occasional glimpses through the cross-hairs of the firing sight and momentary visits from outside, but the thing is almost entirely in the hands of the bedraggled four guys just trying to get through the mission. It's gripping and stomach-churning, and can sometimes feel like a (very good) play; but it's also a cry for the end of war and a fairly eloquent one at that. A haunting film that will not soon leave your thoughts.
Walter M

"Lebanon" is a visceral and horrifying anti-war movie that makes great use of its limited location of the interior of a tank.(It is not as cramped as I imagined it to be, as there is room to lay down or a corpse.) The movie starts at 3:00 am on June 6, 1982 inside a tank… More
"Lebanon" is a visceral and horrifying anti-war movie that makes great use of its limited location of the interior of a tank.(It is not as cramped as I imagined it to be, as there is room to lay down or a corpse.) The movie starts at 3:00 am on June 6, 1982 inside a tank that receives orders from the crew's superior, Jamil(Zohar Shtrauss). For the record, everybody seems to be on a first name basis, with ranks rarely brought up.(It is eventually revealed that Jamil is a major and Asi(Itay Tiran), the tank commander, clings tenaciously to his being an officer, even if nobody is listening to him.) That looseness clashes with what is happening outside of the tank that we only get to see from the tank's point of view.(How much should I read into a shot of a poster of the World Trade Center caught in the crosshairs?) So, while the viewer might get to see the war up close and personal, there is little on the big picture that leaves who is on whose side a little murky and very realistic, making a dangerous situation even worse. Speaking of which, Yigal(Michael Moshonov), the tank driver, would like his mom to know he is okay while Shmulik(Yoav Donat) freezes at his first opportunity to fire which results in the death of an infantryman, but not the second time. Yes, while we may laugh at the fact that he just killed a lot of dangerous looking chickens on a truck, the movie again becomes deadly serious when we are reminded about the driver. This is the kind of thing that no amount of training can prepare you for, as nobody ever tells the soldiers about the possibility of civilian deaths when they are shooting barrels.
Daniel P

Flawed but fascinating, entirely tank-set war film with the feeling of claustrophobia its greatest achievement. The 'tank-eye' view did eventually get tiresome and actually not that much happens, but there are some memorable moments (a woman's dress catches fire and a… More
Flawed but fascinating, entirely tank-set war film with the feeling of claustrophobia its greatest achievement. The 'tank-eye' view did eventually get tiresome and actually not that much happens, but there are some memorable moments (a woman's dress catches fire and a soldier hurriedly tears it from her then pushes her to the ground; music playing from an unidentified source signifies that the tank is about to be attacked), fine performances and a palpable sense of atmosphere - you can practically smell the blood, piss and dirt within the confines of the tank.
Nicolas K

Exposes our human vulnerability through 4 frightened, under-prepared Israeli soldiers reluctantly involved in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Shot entirely inside a tank, the sense of claustrophobia is vivid.
Francisco G

You can almost smell and feel the heavy clunks of being inside that tank. A politicly relevant film, told extremely well thanks to the director's experiences on the war. It's fantastic you never feel safe inside that tank...
Daisy M

Lebanon was directed by Samuel Maoz and focused exclusively on the experienced of the four young Israelis soldiers that were responsible for operating a tank rolling into Lebanese territory at the start of the war in 1982. For almost the entire movie the characters and the audience… More
Lebanon was directed by Samuel Maoz and focused exclusively on the experienced of the four young Israelis soldiers that were responsible for operating a tank rolling into Lebanese territory at the start of the war in 1982. For almost the entire movie the characters and the audience were trapped inside the tank, where we could see only through the lens of the tank periscope what was going on outside. With little dialogue and poor character development, this viewpoint successfully created a tense atmosphere and provided originality,to what might have been overlooked as another war movie.It did not rejoice war, like American war movies, in which you could see the patriotism, here you find a movie that questioned the war they were forced to take part in.It was surely a great experience, but however, very difficult to describe it as enjoyable.
Kyle S

The film is shot ENTIRELY in a tank delivers on a compelling level. An INCREDIBLE experience, you feel like you are there in the tank. The camera never leaves the tank, the only time you see outside the tank, is through the eyes of the gunner, and you see it all through the crosshairs… More
The film is shot ENTIRELY in a tank delivers on a compelling level. An INCREDIBLE experience, you feel like you are there in the tank. The camera never leaves the tank, the only time you see outside the tank, is through the eyes of the gunner, and you see it all through the crosshairs of his reticle. The only shot from outside the tank is the last shot of the film. A compelling, sad, yet has to be seen and experienced film. Combine the subject matter of "Waltz with Bashir," the tank element of "The Beast," and the overall fear and paranoia eating at the crewmembers of "Das Boot" to boot. It won the Golden Lion last year at Venice film festival, and I hope it is Israel's submission for best foreign film this year at the Academy Awards. It is stronger than last year's "Ajami" and that was not only their submission, but was nominated aswell! One of the best films 2010 has to offer.
Anthony V

An incredibly immersive experience as you experience a battle from the perspective of inside a tank. Gritty, realistic; can be compared to Das Boot as one of those films where you walk away feeling like you've been there. It holds as one of the strongest war movies ever made.
Barry L

Such a weird film, you seem to be thrown into the plot half way through then the film ends without actually finishing properly....It was such a confined claustraphobic movie but it seemed to work well. I dont fancy being stuck in a tank...still better than being outside...