Starring Stephen Dorff who plays a Israeli fighter pilot Yoni who finds himself a captive to a young Palestinian refugee boy in war torn Lebanon. Yoni forms a tentative bond with the boy Fahed (Abdallah El Akal) as the pair attempt to make their way home.
With the film set in Beirut 1982 there is an extra surge of tension with it been set 30 years ago despite the fact things in the Middle East sadly haven't changed much though you could say with the recent struggles things are a lot worse. The question is,the subject of a balance between entertainment and possibly your knowledge of the war or even what view you have on what's going on in that part of the world. I haven't seen the film so a lot of what i'm reading up on the film is from previous articles, reviews and things like compassion between 2 people from areas that have grown up hating each other can bond together in order to survive. There is a big Waltz With Bashir feel to this film and it's a film which should spark some rather intriguing debate on how you see the whole Israeli / Middle East fiasco. It will also be interesting to see as the film's director Eran Riklis an ex-Israeli military how balance or even imbalanced Zaytoun might be.On an acting front this film sounds like another piece of evidence proving Stephen Dorff does possess some good acting chops but why doesn't he make more of these movies and get the credit he deserves?
Zaytoun will be released by Artificial Eye films on 26 December and also stars Alice Taglioni, Ashraf Barhom.