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.
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.
