5. Beneath the Helmet
Site score: 3, IMDb score: 8 Overall score: 11
Directed by Wayne Kopping
Year: 2014
Beneath the Helmet is a different kind of coming of age story. When they turn 18, Israeli teenagers don’t prepare for college, life on campus, and endless parties like their American counterparts. Instead, they get drafted into the military. They will spend the next 3 years (two for girls) wearing a uniform and defending their country. This is a story of 5 youths who have been drafted into one of the most elite units in the Israeli army, the paratrooper brigade. These kids – and let’s face it, they have just finished highs school and kids they are – are faced with the harsh reality of military life as they try to understand their new role and grasp the higher purpose of their being in the army.
