If cigar-chomping director Sam Fuller were still with us, and if he decided to make a movie about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, I imagine that it would be similar to “Lebanon,” by Israeli director-writer Samuel Maoz.
Just as Fuller’s groundbreaking 1980 war movie “The Big Red One” is based on Fuller’s own experiences, Maoz’s “Lebanon” is inspired by the director’s traumatic days at the front, giving his work a sense of authority.
It’s the first day of the conflict, and an Israeli tank, nicknamed Rhino, is on the move. Inside are four young men with no battle experience, scared out of their minds.
Almost the entire film is shot in sweaty close-up inside the war machine. Our only view of the outside world is through the tank’s viewfinder.
Occasionally an outsider intrudes — a Syrian prisoner, a dying Israeli, a ranting Arab who is supposed to lead the crew to safety — but this is first and foremost the story of the tank’s four occupants.
From the soldier who is desperate to let his mother know he’s OK to the young man paralyzed with fear, these are real people, not idealized soldiers willing to die for their country. They’ve gotten the short end of the stick, and they know it.
The film’s dramatic high takes place in one of the few scenes outside the tank — a half-clothed mother wailing over her dead family. Guess she never heard of “collateral damage.”
