Lebanon
Film
Rob Jan
In Samuel Maoz's Lebanon an Israeli Defence Force 4-man Centurion tank crew get 'Das Booted' in the '82 war when their Armoured Fighting Vehicle and the paratrooper squad they're supporting gets cut off from the main line of advance.
Lebanon is a powerful film set almost entirely within the fighting compartment of a metal monster that must read as claustrophobic for anyone who doesn't have a turtle component in their blood and a singular obsession with armour of all kinds. ( Well, I did know what kind of tank it was without having to check, y’know?) I referenced the classic submarine movie ‘Das Boot’ deliberately, Maoz’s experiences as a conscript in the ‘82 war have informed his ultra realistic depiction of the interior of an operational tank down to the last manky, clanky, rusty detail. Condensation, blood, sweat, urine, grease and just about every other liquid known to man or metal beast swill around the feet of the crew in the bottom of the turret’s basket. This evil brew, along with the stench of expended shell propellants and engine fumes form a stinking fug, always unpleasant to start with before you throw in the constant vibration of the engine and clatter of the tracks.
Hell. On treads.
In the film the soldiers view of the outside world (to perhaps a lesser than realistic extent; tank crews like to pop their hatches whenever possible) is totally confined to prismatic periscopes and gun sights. Though Maoz never falls into the trap of thereby making everything a target in a macabre hi-tech video game, he does underline the grim potential of the tankers’ never-to-be underestimated ability to comprehensively ‘fuck up’ anything and anyone they do choose to fire upon. The tank may be metal but the crew are flesh and blood and far from invulnerable. Their Dalek like P.O.V is rudely violated any number of times as officers, prisoners and corpses breach their far from cosy shell.
They’re not a happy crew to begin with, thanks to a last minute replacement, on top of the always present moral ambiguities of the mission they’re ordered to perform. In one ironic scene we learn that international law has forbidden the use of white phosphorus incendiary rounds so their commanding officer, as a concession, coyly renames it “Flaming Smoke”. It all comes apart at the welded seams when these knights in less than shining armour are forcibly reminded why tanks in urban areas are only ever as safe as their infantry support can make them.
I wouldn’t care to be smug about it, but this is the kind of exceptionally well made. completely horrifying anti war (and how could anything that told the truth not be?) movie that makes me especially relieved not to be personally entangled in the ongoing running sore of Middle-Eastern frightfulness.
Whew!
Rob Jan presents Zero G each Monday from 1-2pm
