Beaufort is a dramatisation of the retreat of Israeli forces from the mountain fortress of Beaufort at the end of the eighteen-year first Lebanon war in 2000.

What fascinates director Joseph Cedar is the period when war comes to an end. Leaders have to work out the best way to effect a withdrawal and soldiers have to come to terms with the fact that the war they've been bitterly fighting in and suddenly ceased to have a purpose.

As a former infantry soldier who served in Lebanon, Joseph Cedar is able to bring a tangible air of realism to the project, giving rounded angles of the Israeli Commander Liraz Liberti (Cohen) and his brave troops as they attempt to continue to hold their position against the very real and hostile daily shelling coming in from opposing Hezbollah positions.

The film has trouble with pacing - at times it is a little slow - and with editing - certain moments are not as interesting as others, but that said, the film certainly improves in the second half when members of the company find themselves in real danger as the enemy shells finally find their range. At this point, you begin to experience the tangible fear of the men whilst an explosives expert is quietly setting detonators and charges so that the Israelis can hopefully explode their mountain fortress as they retreat.

Like Days of Glory, Cedar is interested in more unusual angles - the boredom of war when soldiers have too much time to think, the monotony of the daily cries of incoming shells, "Incoming! Incoming! Impact! Impact!", to the taste of real fear when a soldier has to go out to an outpost that has recently been shelled or when someone doesn't move to help an injured friend simply because at that moment he doesn't want to risk his own life. Cedar isn't interested in Hollywood heroics but more in the actual rudiments of warfare with soldiers having to remove the mementos of dead friends to take back to loved ones.

The film is going to interest those who like realism, those who like war films and cinema-goers who may have an interest in the region or in the history of the struggles between Israel and Lebanon. Bear in mind though that the film focuses on the grim realities of war together with the great pay-off when soldiers can put down their weapons and experience the real joys of survival for those fortunate enough to make it that far.