BEAUFORT (Joseph Cedar). 125 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (August 22). For venues and times, see film times. Rating: NNNN
Beaufort isn’t the first war movie to portray the anxiety, moral confusion and sheer boredom that define life on the battlefront.
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Nor is it the first to point out that such inner turmoil can be as destructive to the soul as a bomb blast. But thanks to its steadfast refusal to serve up a bloody catharsis, Beaufort makes a more compelling statement than most of its guts-and-glory brethren.
A group of Israeli soldiers are guarding a 12th-century castle captured by the army in the 1982 war against Lebanon. After the Israeli government announces plans to end its 18-year occupation, the young men are left to wonder why they’ve put their lives on the line for a building whose value is primarily symbolic. When several of them die in missile attacks in the days before their departure, the answers become much more elusive.
Writer/director Joseph Cedar offers few answers. Instead, he focuses on the characters, particularly the unit’s young commander (a brilliant Oshri Cohen), a man torn between patriotism and conscience.
Deliberately paced and filmed in greyed colours, Beaufort – which was nominated for this year’s best-foreign-language-film Oscar – is a tough slog at times. But its thoughtful, nuanced insights make it worth the march through the mud.