Adapted from Ron Leshem’s novel, this blistering antiwar film (2007) takes place in the closing days of Israel’s first war in Lebanon, a conflict that lasted 18 years. Shelled by unseen Hezbollah, a small band of Israeli soldiers defends a mountain outpost next to a 12th-century Crusader fortress. Tensions develop between the company commander (Oshri Cohen) and a demolitions expert (Ohad Knoller of Yossi & Jagger) sent to defuse a new type of bomb. The absurdity and terrors of their situation are compounded when the squad receives orders to evacuate and blow up its bunker—something the enemy has been trying to do all along. Joseph Cedar directed. In Hebrew with subtitles. 132 min.
