Beaufort

Released Jan 18, 2008

2h 5m

Action

Drama

War

List

85%

53 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Near the end of the war in Lebanon, a group of Israeli soldiers defends an isolated mountain outpost next to a 12th-century fortress called Beaufort Castle. Moving through a maze-like underground structure, they are under constant bombardment and stress. The young commander, Liraz (Oshri Cohen), is at odds with demolitions expert, Ziv (Ohad Knoller), and things become even more tense as the troops prepare to withdraw and possibly destroy the very bunker they've been defending.

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Critics Consensus

Beaufort is a deeply observant and meditative war film, masterfully rendered by director Joseph Cedar.

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Audience Member

Exprience war at the high and low points.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Unexceptional war film based in Lebanon and following a young band of occupying Israeli soldiers. Acting is OK and its shot well enough but it's not really stand out in any way.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Exciting at times, this movie does not consistently hold the viewer's interest.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It's well directed and shot, but says very little that hasn't been already said - and better - in a myriad of other war films. There are several unique and interesting scenes, but not enough for a movie of this length. The acting is also mediocre, so no help here either.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Following the lives of a battalion stationed at Beaufort. You never once see the enemy hezballah who rain down missiles on the guard post, nor the generals calling the shots of the war.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One thing I've learned from watching Israeli war films is that you must expect them to be like the american one, because in these film there's no heroes, no meaning nor any armed combats. The reason of course it's because it is so in real life. Beaufort was the name of a fortress located in the southern part of Lebanon which Israeli forces occupied from 1983-2000. In this film we follow the last mouths of the occupation when Beaufort still was fully armed. But rockets from Hezbollah rained down every day. Beaufort main focus is on the Israeli soldiers long days doing nothing else but guarding their outpost and not getting hit by the rockets. The only thing to make the time pass is by talking, about who they are, their dreams and what they gonna do when they come home. But the risk of some one's getting killed is still there, and they know it, so every one looks forward to the withdrawal. I can say as much that this is a real anti-war film, but the question is it a good movie because of that. I have to admit I was kind of bored because nothing really seams to happened, there was no armed fights, but rather a long distant one. But I feel that I must have in mind that the characters in the film is as bored as I am. But is that a good promises for a movie? I don't know. But I ending up giving this film a marginal thumbs up.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

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Joseph Cedar

Director

Alon Aboutboul

Kimchy

Eli Altonio

Oshry

Daniel Brook

Pavel

Oshri Cohen

Liraz

Gal Friedman

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Deborah Ross

The Spectator

Joseph Cedar, the director, obviously decided not to hold the audience's hand. This is good until you get lost; at which point you are less interested in the film and more interested in trying to feel for the hand that isn't there.

Aug 23, 2018

Full Review

Wesley Morris

Boston Globe

The soldiers feel stuck and so do we.

Rated: 2/4

Nov 24, 2011

Full Review

Kamal Al-Solaylee

Globe and Mail

Clearly something has gone MIA in moving from the small pictures into a cohesive big one.

Rated: 2.5/4

Sep 1, 2008

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

There is no preaching or pontificating here, just young men with a lifetime ahead of them, forced to wait in hell while their fates are decided for them by men in air conditions rooms.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jul 6, 2019

Full Review

Hank Sartin

Time Out Chicago

Cedar overcomes the generic characters and formulaic "which innocent will die next in an ironic twist" plotting by his attention to detail.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 23, 2012

Full Review

Nora Lee Mandel

Film-Forward.com

Powerful portrait of an officer and his soldiers facing up to what it means to serve in an army of a fallible, democratic country that spins an explosive pyrrhic victory

Rated: 10/10

Dec 23, 2008

Full Review

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Synopsis

Near the end of the war in Lebanon, a group of Israeli soldiers defends an isolated mountain outpost next to a 12th-century fortress called Beaufort Castle. Moving through a maze-like underground structure, they are under constant bombardment and stress. The young commander, Liraz (Oshri Cohen), is at odds with demolitions expert, Ziv (Ohad Knoller), and things become even more tense as the troops prepare to withdraw and possibly destroy the very bunker they've been defending.

Director: Joseph Cedar
Producer: Moshe Edery, David Silber
Screenwriter: Joseph Cedar
Distributor: Kino International
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Original Language: Hebrew
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 18, 2008, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 11, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $101.3K
Runtime: 2h 5m