stephen  d. leece

Das Boot only set in a tank.

Ostensibly about the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, this is actually a character study of a bunch of conscripts thrown together to do a specific job despite not knowing, or necessarily liking one another.

The characters are the four man tank crew, a senior officer on foot, a captured Syrian infantryman and a dead IDF soldier stored in the back of the tank. Along the way we meet a fairly incompetent South Lebanon Army militia officer, and a Syrian squaddie armed with an RPG all via the gun sights of the rapidly decaying tank that is in desperate need of a good mechanic.

Across the tank’s journey from the Litani into Lebanon-proper for want of a better term, we learn that the tank is carrying illegal phosphorous grenades, which are to be given an amusing codename in all radio traffic.

Indeed there is a lot of black humour on display- the tank gunner that refuses to shoot at a BMW full of PLO fighters, but quite happily blows up a truck containing an innocent farmer seconds later, and the general deterioration of the tank the further deeper into Lebanon it goes.

Again, like other films concerning the Israeli-Lebanon conflicts attempts are made to inform the audience of the complexity of Lebanese society, in this instance two PLO gunmen holding a Lebanese family hostage that are later revealed to be Maronites.

It’s a thumping good war film on one level, and a valuable insight into the invasion of Lebanon through a young unwilling conscript’s eyes on another.

Needless to say the film, which is based on director Maoz’s own experiences during the war caused a stink in his native Israel for being brutally honest. The rest of the world loved it.