FREE ON YOUTUBE West Beyrouth

FREE ON YOUTUBE  West Beyrouth by Ziad Doueiri from Lebanon works just like the classic Nouvelle Vague films from France. A very entertaining low budget production that takes classic film genres as its starting point - and thus tells a beautifully provocative story! Basically it's all about the complications of human relationships - with a homage to the classics from Hollywood - BUT against the background of the very special situation in Beirut during the civil war in the 70s. Nouvelle Vague from Lebanon! West Beyrouth has the swing of the great role models and therefore doesn't have to fear any comparison! The year is 1975, Lebanon is in civil war, the city of Beirut is divided. The West belongs to the Muslims, the East to the Christians. Tarek goes to an elite French school, rebels strongly against the authorities and prefers to carry his Super 8 camera around with him. Even the beginning of the war still seems to be an adventure for him! The fascination of getting from East to West unscathed! Tarek's mother wants to leave the city, his father insists on staying. While the war develops into a tragedy, Tarek prefers to spend his time with May, a Christian orphan. Finally he ends up in the most notorious brothel of the city and meets the impressive hostess, the brothel mother Oum. We remember Truffaut's "Day For Night" when the producer of a movie asks: "Aren't we one big happy family?" The actor replies, "So are the people in Greek tragedies." This is roughly how I imagine life in Beirut in 1975. More a forced community than a family. The private sphere is increasingly made impossible, everyone feels exhausted and despair grows like an epidemic. But in the middle of all this there is FILM. What can life do to you if you can still make FILMS? And doesn't FILM in West Beyrouth look like a homeless shelter? That is a basic need at least for people like Tarek! Ziad Doueiri's debut is mostly autobiographical and just bursts with lust for life! However, it not only crosses the border to adulthood, but also an invisible religious one - so playful that it is no exaggeration to consider West Beyrouth one of the most beautiful films of recent times!