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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Beaufort (Israeli)

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#1 of 1 Posted 10/23/07 10:12 PM

From harveykarten Posts 744 Last Nov-19
To All [Msg # 22706.1 ]

BEAUFORT

Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey S. Karten
Kino International
Grade: C+
Directed by:    Joseph Cedar
Written By: Joseph Cedar, novel by Rom Leshem
Cast:   Oshri Cohen, Itay Tiran, Eli Eltonyo, Ohad Knoller, Itay Turgeman
Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 10/23/07
Opens: January 18, 2008

When Israel defeated five invading Arab armies in 1948 during the War for Independence, I figured: Israel can do no wrong. When Israel doubled its size in the 1967 war, liberating the eastern part of Jerusalem, I said to myself: invincible. When in 2006 Israel was unable to destroy Hezbollah or incite the Lebanese people to turn against the terrorist guerrilla force, I said, “Uh, oh.” Anyone with even a modest sense of history would know that the 2006 stalemate was not Israel’s only non-victory. In 2000, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) repudiated its Masada (meaning “fortress”) complex (when 936 Sicarii extremist Jews committed suicide in the year 72 rather than suffer enslavement by conquering Romans) and evacuated a fortress in Lebanon which it captured from the PLO in 1982. Human life became more important than national pride.   Hezbollah took credit for forcing the Israelis out, but more likely, the mountaintop fortress named “Beaufort” was considered an unimportant piece of land despite its use as a lookout against potential enemy incursions over the border. The politicians called it quits, under pressure from an Israeli protest group which throughout the 1990s lobbied for a withdrawal.

New York-born writer-director Joseph Cedar, who had moved to Israel and served in the first Lebanon war, wants his audience to realize the frustrations of a unit of soldiers who were guarding the godforsaken spot of land. None of the fighting men believed himself involved in a significant military mission. The commanding officer, 22-year-old Liraz (Oshri Cohen), did however believe in following orders, even to the extent of putting twelve soldiers’ lives at risk when his men prepared to blow up the fort and withdraw back to Israel but were then told by higher-ups to stay another day, unprotected by parts of the army that had already left.

“Beaufort,” named for a fort built by the Crusaders in the 12th Century and fought over throughout the centuries, was the subject of Rom Leshem’s prize-winning novel by the same name. The book, adapted by Cedar, affords the audience a claustrophobic scene that could conceivably take place on a live stage, since for the most part the soldiers stationed therein who form the all-male cast of the film spend most of their time within the concrete walls. They chat idly, teasing one another, and discuss to what extent they like or dislike their young commander. Throughout the film, Hezbollah mortars explode close to and within the complex, the men protected by the concrete with a few exceptions. The most tragic death occurs when bomb-disposal expert Ziv (Ohad Knoller) sends the company dog out on the road to sniff out the location of a buried bomb and moves a few yards outside the compound to defuse it.   As rumors of an impending withdrawal reach the men, they discuss their girlfriends back home, one mentioning that his favorite lives in New Jersey, the daughter of an Israeli man.

The problem with the film is the lack of action. There are no pitched battles; just missiles falling from anonymous terrorists, the explosions increasing to give the world the impression that Hezbollah is responsible for forcing the evacuation of the Jews. While each soldier has a name, of course, somehow an audience would be hard-put to see them as individuals with their separate personalities and political viewpoints. The picture is overlong at two hours and ten minutes, when in fact it could easily have been cut by twenty minutes by eliminating some of the repetitious scenes of exploding missiles. Another claustrophobic movie, Wolfgang Petersen’s “Das Boot” takes place within a similar environment, a German submarine during World War 2, but that masterwork is a nailbiter graced with the acting ability of Jurgen Prochnow, possessing frequent humorous interludes such as the affection for some Germans for the Irish song, “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.”

For a picture on a budget, though, “Beaufort” has Alex Claude’s find sound design to hype realistic looking explosions. It give us viewers a notion of what it’s like to feel oneself on a meaningless mission with no women to comfort them, and does raise yet more questions about the rationale of American and other coalition troops in Iraq.

Not Rated.    130 minutes   © 2007 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Beaufort (Israeli)

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