Tuesday, May 27, 2008

West Beyrouth (Lebanon, 1998)



'West Beyrouth' is a film by Ziad Doueiri. It's a story that tells about the lives of two boys (in highschool) during the starting of the civil war in Beirut, Libanon, in 1975 when the city is divided between east and west, muslim and christian. The film doesn't focuss on this civil war, why the war started will never be explained so when you don't know anything about the complexity of civil wars in the Middle East you won't get to know more after watching this movie. But, you won't enjoy the movie less because it's a movie about growing up in a time of war. In fact I think you could call it a coming of age movie. At first the war seems exciting and it is brilliant that the school is closed but after a while the mood of the film changes, tragedy seems to take more over in their lives.



It's interesting to see how people just try to move on during those times. People who don't flee but try to stay at their places, try to manage to get some food.
Don't expect a war movie but a movie about two boys who just began to explore life, and now they have to do it in times of war.

1 comment:

momo said...

Saw this last night. Although I don't understand the language, I knew it was a good film. My Arab husband enjoyed it a lot.