Beaufort review

Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

It’s 2000 and a group of Israeli soldiers are preparing to withdraw from their mountain outpost at Beaufort castle in southern Lebanon. Led by young officer Liraz (Oshri Cohen), the men are subjected to rocket bombardments from unseen Hezbollah guerillas and begin to question whether their colleagues’ lives have been sacrificed in vain. Nominated at this year’s Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film, Beaufort is a war movie in which action comes second to mood and atmosphere, with writer/director Joseph Cedar (himself a former paratrooper) shooting the interiors of the base to suggest the confines of a spaceship. The broader political questions aren’t addressed, but Cedar successfully conveys the boredom, fear and claustrophobia experienced by his conscript characters.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.