stephen  d. leece

Described by the New York Times as “Bloody, vivid and unvarnished” upon its release in 2000. I would add “unpolished.”

In his quest for an authentic depiction of the October War of 1973 Gitai forgets all the rules of narrative.

No political or historical context is given to the war. The characters are ill-defined, and we only really get to know the back story of Dr. Klauzner- Polish but brought up in Belgium after fleeing the Nazis in Warsaw.

As a result the characters are difficult to sympathise with let alone empathise with.

If feeling charitable, and it is difficult to be with this film, it could be described as M*A*S*H without the dark humour and sense of irony, but it is nothing of the sort.

It is two hours of watching a medical unit being ferried from battlefield to battlefield with no discernible plot in the traditional sense, book-ended with a pointless sex scene that is about as erotic as a trip to the toilet. The characters do not go on a journey.

On the plus side, the film has authentic uniforms, weapons (standard issue Israeli Uzi sub-machine gun) and armour so connoisseurs of military history can squeal with girlish delight at the attention to detail on display.

However it is this accuracy that is one of the major flaws in the film. The medical crew are going from muddy field to muddy field and the only medic easily identified is Dr. Klauzner because of his Rolf Harris specs.

Veterans of the war will have a greater appreciation for this work for obvious reasons, however non-combatants and those too young to have lived through the events are left feeling cold.