Beaufort is a 2007 film from Israel directed by Joseph Cedar, based on a novel of the same name by Ron Leshem.
It is set in 2000 and deals with the end of the 18-year Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. The 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the continuing occupation of the southern portion of the country have become highly controversial and the government has decided to withdraw. They haven't withdrawn yet, however, which is why an IDF unit is still occupying Beaufort Castle, an isolated mountaintop outpost that has been a military fortification since the Crusaders in the 12th century.
At the end of the 20th century is an Israeli unit led by Lt. Liraz Librati. Morale is low, with the men at Beaufort stuck on the front lines of a war that is ending and which proved to be futile as Israel is surrendering the security zone. The men at Beaufort question why they are in this exposed position for nothing, subject to continual mortar and missile attacks from Hezbollah forces that want to make the Israeli withdrawal look like a rout. The men hang on day by day, waiting for the final order to withdraw, hoping that they can make it out alive.
Alon Abutbul plays Brigadier General Kimchi, the division commander.
Tropes:
- As Himself: Left-wing Israeli journalist and author Gideon Levy appears as himself, interviewing Ziv's father on television.
- Blunt "Yes": The dithering of politicians means the last 12 men at Beaufort have to stay another night, after the rest of the men and all their equipment have been evacuated, leaving those last 12 men exposed and in terrible danger. When a frustrated Liraz asks Koris if he wants Liraz to pull the unit out in defiance of orders, Koris flatly says "Yes."
- Call-Back: Right before the final evacuation Liraz retrieves the pictures of dead Zitlawi's girlfriend, still taped to the wall above his bunk. And as the fortress is destroyed, the dummy soldiers that so startled Ziv early in the film are shown burning up in the explosion.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Discussed Trope. It's time to go out and disarm the mine that is blocking the road. A soldier offers Ziv a cigarette. When Ziv says "I don't smoke," the other soldier says "Want to start?"
- Decoy Protagonist: Ziv, the bomb disposal technician who is sent to Beaufort at the beginning of the movie to clear a mine that has cut off the only road to the castle, leaving helicopters the only way in and out. He comes off as a Naïve Newcomer, initially refusing the order to clear the mine, telling a story about how his uncle was killed in the battle to take the fortress in 1982, and providing comic relief when he's startled by the dummy soldiers posted in the trenches. It seems like he'll be the co-protagonist along with Liraz, but he is unceremoniously killed some 20 minutes into the movie when the mine he's trying to clear blows up.
- Dies Wide Open: Ziv, and with blood streaming from his eyes as well, when he's killed by the detonation of the mine.
- Fatal Family Photo: Zitlawi not only has a photo of his American girlfriend pinned up next to his bunk, he has her name, Michele, tattooed on his arm, something the men rag him about. He's killed in an artillery barrage.
- Incoming!: Heard repeatedly throughout the movie, as the IDF soldiers are hit by Hezbollah artillery ever day. Liraz tells Ziv that once he enters into the courtyard he is to keep running until he gets to the other side, even if he hears "Incoming!" along the way.
- Manly Tears: The end of the movie has Liraz dropping to his knees and sobbing tears of relief and joy, after he and his men have made it out of Beaufort and reached the safety of Israel.
- Mood Whiplash: One of the IDF men is deliberately irritating his squad mates by engaging in obscene sex talk on the phone. The humor is interrupted when that soldier's outpost is hit by a missile which blows the whole outpost up.
- The Place: Beaufort Castle, sitting on the top of a strategic hill. The ruins of the castle that the Crusaders built after taking the hill in 1139 are still there and are part of the defensive works; the men marvel at how soldiers have held the post for a thousand years.
- War Is Hell: IDF soldiers in a fortress on the front lines of the Lebanon war, exposed to artillery every single day, trying to stay alive in a position that is about to be abandoned as part of a war that was more or less lost.
