| Notes: Director: Eli Cohen; Israeli production, AKA Shtei Etzbaot MiTzidon, literally: Two Fingers from Sidon, which in Israeli slang implies – close by or, two fingers on the map. It originates from the legendary story that Moroccan Jewish immigrant to Israel used to described their origin as being “two fingers from Paris, on the map”. This is probably the first Israeli movie to deal with the politics of Israels’ war, because that was the nature of the war dealt with in this movie. The war is Israel’s First Lebanese War, originally referred to as Operation Peace for Galilee, 1982. The stay of Israeli forces in Lebanon, after the war, was a prolonged and controversial one, culminating in a unilateral withdrawal from the so-called “Lebanese mud”, or “swamp” that lasted from 1985 to 2000. Soldiers, and the civilians back home, became bitter over the large number of casualties due to fighting a guerilla army, amid civilian populations. The movie tell the story, in very realistic details, of a platoon shortly prior to the withdrawal. |
