An Oscar nominee last year for Best Foreign Language Film, Joseph Cedar’s Beaufort is an uncommonly claustrophobic war film: it unfolds almost entirely in a 12th-century fort in Southern Lebanon that’s been modified into a bunker by Israeli Defense Forces seeking a foothold in the region. Those aware of the location’s real-life fate will have a pretty good idea of where Beaufort is going by the end, but Cedar — who co-wrote the script with novelist Ron Leshem — works diligently to maintain suspense.

For the first half hour or so, he succeeds: the opening movements of Beaufort, which detail the arrival of an off-site bomb expert to clear the road leading to the castle, have real, coiled intensity. Things slacken a bit once we head back inside the compound, where the soldiers talk of the conflict’s impending end and their attendant evacuation; it’s a little too clear that we’re in the eye of the storm, and the various exchanges about the group’s hopes, dreams and etc. have an unpleasant, rib-nudging quality. The rhythm — monologue/rocket attack/monologue — grows tiresome and the actors, though physically well-cast, don’t have much to do but look frightened under fire and stricken when tending to their fallen comrades.