Interview with Samuel Maoz

29 Oct 2009

We speak to the director of Lebanon

Based on director Samuel Maoz’s own experiences as a young conscript during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Lebanon is a tense and haunting evocation of the very real horrors of war. Having won the Golden Lion for best film at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Maoz has now found himself hailed as world cinema’s latest hot property, as he discussed when we met earlier this week.

Lebanon is based on your own experiences as a soldier. What prompted you to revisit your own past in this manner?

Basically it was a need – a need to unload, a need to expose war as it really is without all the heroic stuff and the rest of the clichés. And it was probably a need, not to forgive myself necessarily, but... I was involved in the war and that in itself is enough for me to feel guilty to an extent. It’s something that I’ll always have to deal with.

Do you feel that there’s a lot of misunderstanding about Israeli history and politics? Are you trying to address that in any way?

I don’t think the film exposes anything that Israeli people didn’t know before, but it deals with issues that people don’t like to talk about. It’s strange because on the whole the audience in Israel think that this is not a political film, and that it should be more political. But then there are audiences saying it is too political. So the audience in Israel is very tough! For one they don’t like to see soldiers crying. People think it isn’t good for their image. I told them that after 2006 there is no image anymore! But the audience outside Israel is less critical.

Can you talk about your decision to set the film almost entirely inside a tank?

What I wanted to use was my subjective memory. That’s the filter through which I intended to tell my story. I soon realised that I couldn’t use a classic cinematic structure. I don’t want the audience to just understand the film, I want them to feel it. Because in this case feeling is understanding. So I needed to create a concept in which you totally identify with the characters. You see what they see, you know only what they know. I don’t want you to think during the film, I want you to feel. Then after the film you can start thinking about what you see. And, this is not something I considered at the time, but I knew that if I talked to peoples’ heads I wouldn’t change anything. Every war film is basically a naïve or pathetic ambition to stop war! I thought if I attacked from another angle and talked to the stomach and the heart, maybe I could make a small difference.

How did the actors themselves respond to their confinement? Was it a claustrophobic atmosphere on set?

The preparation process was very tough, physically and emotionally. For example in the beginning, every actor was left alone inside a small, dark and very hot container for a few hours. So instead of explaining the claustrophobic experience to the actor, I let him go through it himself. After a while we knocked on the container walls with iron pipes. It’s very similar to a sudden attack when someone’s shooting at the tank. So I prepared them like that. I tried to create an experience that would bring them close to the situation.

Have things changed for you since winning the Golden Lion at Venice?

It’s been very busy! I know that Celluloid Dreams have sold the film all over the world, I’m visiting lots of festivals. It’s beyond my dreams. Also lots of suggestions, scary suggestions from the Americans! Meetings with Miramax and Universal. I told myself I’ll listen to all these suggestions while I’m travelling around festivals, enjoy it, and then consider my steps. But I’m very hungry now. This is my first feature film, and I’m full of passion. I’m not a young director – I’m not too old but I’m not young either!

So you won’t be moving straight to Hollywood?

I don’t think so. I understand that in Hollywood, for example, the producers have the final cut. That sounds like a nightmare to me! The best thing about the success is that I know that I can raise the money I need for the next film, make it the way I want to, and make a living from directing. You can’t ask for more from life!

Paul O'Callaghan

More interviews

Paul King, director of Bunny and the Bull
Lindy Heymann and Leigh Campbell, director and writer of Kicks
Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson, makers of Mugabe and the White African
Harmony Korine, director of Trash Humpers
Tarik Saleh, director of Metropia
Stephen Poliakoff, director of Glorious 39
David Morrissey, director of Don't Worry About Me
Cristian Mungiu, director of Tales from the Golden Age
Joe Swanberg, director of Alexander the Last
Martin Pieter Zandvliet, director of Applause
Simon Mayo, radio and TV presenter
Yorgos Lanthimos, director of Dogtooth