Beaufort
Perched atop a mountain in southern Lebanon, the Beaufort Castle has passed from army to army for hundreds of years. In the year 2000, Liraz Liberti, a young Israeli commander, is in charge of defending the last outpost.
It has become his reason to live, filling him with power, fueling him with self-importance, driving him to allow perilous - and ultimately meaningless - operations... Bomb specialist Ziv loses his life when the bomb he is about to defuse explodes. 19-year-old Zitlawi dies in a missile attack. And Oshri, who can´t wait to see his girlfriend in New Jersey, is severely injured in a bombing that leaves the swaggering Liraz frozen with terror... This is their story not of war, but of retreat, a story of no enemy, but an amorphous entity that drops bombs from the skies.
As the day of retreat approaches, Liraz is forced to find a new meaning in his life. For he, too, realizes that Beaufort, once a symbol of victory, has long since become a symbol of futile bloodshed. Finally, the order comes to blow up the fort. Liraz pulverizes the cursed mountain that killed his friends - and destroys what he loved and hated the most...
It has become his reason to live, filling him with power, fueling him with self-importance, driving him to allow perilous - and ultimately meaningless - operations... Bomb specialist Ziv loses his life when the bomb he is about to defuse explodes. 19-year-old Zitlawi dies in a missile attack. And Oshri, who can´t wait to see his girlfriend in New Jersey, is severely injured in a bombing that leaves the swaggering Liraz frozen with terror... This is their story not of war, but of retreat, a story of no enemy, but an amorphous entity that drops bombs from the skies.
As the day of retreat approaches, Liraz is forced to find a new meaning in his life. For he, too, realizes that Beaufort, once a symbol of victory, has long since become a symbol of futile bloodshed. Finally, the order comes to blow up the fort. Liraz pulverizes the cursed mountain that killed his friends - and destroys what he loved and hated the most...
Director Joseph Cedar :
What intrigued me most in the story of Beaufort is that it deals with how wars end. There is an
abrupt, definitive moment in every war when the mission, or purpose, for which soldiers gave
their lives until that moment, ceases to exist. With Beaufort this moment comes with a great
horrific explosion, destroying one of the bloodiest mountains in the Middle East - an unforgettable,
adrenaline-saturated moment, but also an image that crystallizes the inconceivable waste
of human life. As a filmmaker, and as a former infantry soldier, I feel extremely grateful to have
had the opportunity to put this image on screen.
| Joseph Cedar |
What intrigued me most in the story of Beaufort is that it deals with how wars end. There is an
abrupt, definitive moment in every war when the mission, or purpose, for which soldiers gave
their lives until that moment, ceases to exist. With Beaufort this moment comes with a great
horrific explosion, destroying one of the bloodiest mountains in the Middle East - an unforgettable,
adrenaline-saturated moment, but also an image that crystallizes the inconceivable waste
of human life. As a filmmaker, and as a former infantry soldier, I feel extremely grateful to have
had the opportunity to put this image on screen.
| Joseph Cedar |
Jul 25th 2010