This is a strange time to post about this movie, as it's out of most theaters but hasn't shown up on DVD yet. I'll bump it if I remember when the DVD comes out. But I've been meaning to recommend it for a while and I want to write something while it's still slightly fresh in my mind.
The simple plot: A filmmaker finds he has forgotten details of his Israeli military service, and seeks to reconstruct his memory by interviewing other former soldiers. Most of the beginning and middle of the movie consist of vignettes told by the other soldiers. some of them are quite surreal and memorable. I especially like the one where one soldier imagines himself as lying on the belly of a giant naked woman doing the backstroke and swimming away from his boat as it's being shelled. Other segments are montages set to music videos of war songs in styles that would have been popular at the time. These sequences are some of the best I've seen at evoking the absurdity of war from the footsoldier's perspective since APOCALYPSE NOW.
There's also hardcore cartoon porn in it.
As the film goes on and the director delves into his own memory, it becomes a documentary on the
Sabra and Shabila massacre. Knowing a little bit of history is helpful to keep the characters straight, but that Wikipedia article tells you all you need to know to follow the story.
It's very powerful, and the best movie I saw made in 2008. It was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars but lost to Japan's DEPARTURES. Worth seeking out.