In 2006 at the start of the Second Lebanon War, Tel Aviv film school graduate Yariv Mozer was called up as Army Reservist Officer to serve at the Front. He decided to take his video camera along with the idea that over the next few weeks he would taping how the war progressed but he somewhat inadvertently got to also film how this life-changing event affected his fellow soldiers.
It’s an amazing insight on seeing up close a war being fought (and lost) by brave patriotic men who would have chosen to defend their country regardless of the compulsory army service that Israelis face. It was even more compelling as it was soon apparently very obvious that the Army Chiefs were risking the men’s lives and severely testing their patience by their gross in-eptness and total lack of control. Whoever Mozer points his camera at during the conflict really doesn’t need to speak, as the sheer frustration is clearly on all the men’s faces.
At one point the Israeli Command is announcing a Cease Fire and at the very same time ordering the troops to invade Lebanon.
Mozer’s video diary that started in good faith as a record of the battle against the Hezbollah, turns into something of an anti-war piece as he conducts follow up interviews with some of the men he served with after the war and witnesses their disillusionment at first hand. When the Official Inquiry reports so damningly on those in charge, the streets of Tel Aviv are filled with protesters, demanding answers for why over 16o Israeli soldiers (and hundreds more Lebanese civilians) had to die.
What this documentary may lack in clarity and continuity in parts, it makes up for in honesty and sheer emotions. For people like me whose knowledge of warfare has been derived purely from history books and action movies, this very personal in-your-face account is the closest I will ever get to a real battle. For that I am extremely grateful, and it has made me stop and think again that when nations bicker and fight with each other they send countless innocent people to their early deaths just to prove a point.
P.S. I briefly met Yarif Mozer at a recent screening of ‘THE INVISIBLE MEN’. his heartbreaking tale of Palestinian gay men trying to survive in Israel, and he kindly gave me a copy of ‘My First War’ which was released in 2008. I’m so pleased he did otherwise I may have missed this wee thought-provoking gem …. you don’t need too as its available to Stream on Netflix
★★★★★★★★
