Lebanon

Reminiscent of Wolfgang Petersen's classic U-boat-set war film Das Boot, Israeli director Samuel Maoz's claustrophobic Lebanon this time confines the action almost entirely to a tank. Based on Maoz's own experiences as a young soldier, Lebanon once again finds an Israeli director – after Ari Folman and Waltz With Bashir – analysing his country's ill-fated 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Where Folman's animated documentary tested the boundaries of memory and reality with dazzlingly surreal imagery, Maoz ratchets up the tension by remaining largely within the suffocating metal confines of his platoon's armoured tank. Largely leaving the wider politics to one side, the director instead etches a human portrayal of soldiers and civilians alike. The horrors of modern urban warfare are made all the more visceral through the lens of a gun sight, as Maoz creates a haunting examination of young men caught out of their depth in a situation they do not understand.

Ali Jaafar