June 6, 1982. Israeli armed forces enter Southern Lebanon in response to an assassination attempt against the Israeli ambassador to Great Britain. How is the event seen by four Israeli recruits reduced to the extremely limited perspective of a tank’s peephole? After reaching a border village, the 20-year-olds, with no previous combat experience, find themselves in action for the first time – and rather than heroic pride, they are overcome with the demoralizing terror of the ever-present death to which they are exposed and which they must perpetuate in order to survive. Debut director Samuel Maoz took inspiration from his traumatizing experiences in the First Lebanon War. Following up on Waltz with Bashir by Ari Folman, Lebanon is another film whose Israeli creator investigates questions of personal experience against a backdrop of historical inevitability. The movie met with mixed reviews in Israel but was warmly received at a number of international festivals, including Venice, where it won the Golden Lion.