'Beaufort' is set during the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, but it isn't a film about the rights and wrongs of that conflict; instead, it focuses (without external judgement) on the reality, both mundane and terrifying, of Israeli soldiers, trying to do their jobs and stay alive at the same time. Indeed, the sense of being cut off from any sense of political or military strategy is palpable, and disheartening, even within the world of the film. Its low budget means that in places it has a (probably unintentionally) stylised feel, and perhaps not quite enough happens to drive two hours of plot. But the conversations between the men are awful yet feel utterly true, while the grey and misty environment feels more like the Scottish highlands than a stereotype of Middle Eastern desert. 'Beaufort' offers no easy answers; one can even suggest it asks no easy questions; but although you'll see slicker films, its merit lies in exactly these points.
