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The heat is stifling. The air smells like urine, cigarettes, blood, hot oil, and sweat. The noise is ear-splitting as you are jostled around like a marble in a tin can. Your heart races with the fearful realization that you could die at any moment. This is the sudden reality of an untested tank crew thrust into war in Lebanon.

It’s 3:00 a.m. on June 6, 1982 and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is launching an invasion of southern Lebanon. With paratrooper support, a tank is sent to clear any resistance left in a town heavily bombarded by the Israelis.

The tank’s four-man crew consists of Assi (Reymond Amsalem) the commander, Hertzel (Oshri Cohen) the loader, Shmulik (Yoav Donat) the gunner, and Yigal (Michael Moshonov) the driver. None have combat experience and it shows as the command structure within the tank quickly breaks down once they enter the fog of war.

When Major Jamil (Zohar Shtrauss), the paratrooper commander, gets them stuck in the middle of town and surrounded by Syrians, the four men’s psyches begin to crack under the withering pressure. One of them must get focused if they are to survive, and it comes from an unlikely candidate.

The story is set against the backdrop of the 1982 Lebanon War in which the IDF’s goal was to defeat the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Syrian forces in southern Lebanon. The result was a dismantling of the PLO’s infrastructure in Lebanon, their departure from Beirut, and a defeat of the Syrian army.

What helps Lebanon become an extraordinary war film is that director/writer Samuel Moaz, who was a 20-year-old Israeli soldier in 1982, strips away politics and gives us a raw look inside the tank during the first 24 hours of the war. The only view we have of the outside world is what Shmulik sees through the lens of a periscope gun sight.

Despite our limited view of the outside, Moaz’s creation effectively depicts the horrible brutality of war and the incalculable damage it has on civilians and soldiers alike. There is nothing glorious about a soldier going into a catatonic state or a woman losing her family because cowardly terrorists use them as shields.

The intensity of emotions, delivered with excellent skill by the four primary cast members, is heightened even more by the increasing sense of claustrophobia generated by being placed in such tight quarters for over an hour and a half. By the end you will have a greater sense of what William Tecumseh Sherman meant when he said, “War is cruelty and hell.”

On a letter grade scale from “A” being excellent to “F” for failing, Lebanon receives an A-.

Lebanon is rated R and has a running time of 93 minutes. 

Now showing through October 7^th @
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for more information.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.