Legend of Destruction, an Israeli animated film reviewed by the Guardian, dramatises the first-century Jewish revolt against Roman rule in Judea, drawing an English-language cast including Oscar Isaac, Evangeline Lilly and Elliott Gould. Eight years in the making and completed in 2021, the film has only now reached digital platforms, a delay the review suggests may be tied to Israel's fraught international standing in recent years. Though set nearly two millennia ago, its themes of factional infighting, hegemonic collapse and civilian suffering invite parallels with contemporary conflicts.

Based closely on Flavius Josephus's The Jewish War and the Talmud, the story follows Ben Batich (Isaac), an ordinary man turned rebel leader who defies his mother and rabbi uncle Yohanan ben Zakkai (Gould) to fight Roman occupiers and the Jewish elite, including Queen Berenice of Cilicia (Lilly), over heavy taxation. Early uprisings give way to infighting among rebel factions, ending with the burning of Jerusalem's Second Temple. Visually, the film is composed almost entirely of painted still images by David Polonsky and Michael Faust, inspired by Chris Marker's La Jetée, resembling an animated graphic novel with only brief stutter-animation near its close; the review calls it innovative but static. Legend of Destruction is available on digital platforms from 15 September.