Review of Beaufort (2007) by Miika V — 20 Mar 2008

The story of this film is around a few soldiers stationed at the outpost of Beaufort in the Israeli-controlled South Lebanon just as the IDF was going to abandon it. The film begins with a soldier from a special unit being flown in to clear a land mine, but who later died during the operation.

Then, the life at the outpost is described, and there were casualties when Beaufort was hit by rockets. The later parts of the film deal a lot on the psychology of the protagonists during the retreat.

I think this film is an excellent one on war because it so deeply portrays the emotions and conflicts of the soldiers as individuals: there is the officer who was ambitious and liked his job, but who was scared at one moment by the bombing; there are soldiers who would otherwise be normal personsâ??they fell in love, had their dreams, wanted to go home and some were afraid to die (but then there was one who risked his life to save another).

In short, the viewer will see the very real feelings among the soldiers in the frontlines, and he will find that death can happen so suddenly in a conflict like this. The question: is there a meaning for those who had died?