This is now a film review blog
Lebanon (2009)
I dug the hyperrealist style. The illumination/texture of the closeups and the volume of the ambient sounds are all exaggerated (almost implausible) but quite effective. The outside world is only known through a muffled radio and a dusty/cracked periscope. Nifty contrast.
The plot is familiar: supposedly simple mission becomes complicated, command structure gets hazy, and the ones who survive are the ones who can most readily amputate their humanity.
"War is bad" is a fine theme but it's too big for one film, so I was intrigued by the facet chosen here. Focusing on the trauma of the invading soldiers at the expense of the civilian victims is a risky gambit. At the end, we're confronted by our own bizarre national rituals. Why do we idolize--borderline worship--18 year old children as we systematically destroy them physically, mentally, and spiritually? It's almost like an ancient animal sacrifice, fulfilling some self-destructive impulse we can't articulate.
I'd love to see a sequel about how we treat veterans.