Customer Reviews

West Beirut [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Tarek (Rami Doueiri) is the kind of anarchic class clown who's often ejected from classes by impatient teachers. While exiled to a hallway one afternoon, he looks out a window and sees hooded gunmen slaughter the passengers of a bus. It's April 13, 1975, and Lebanon's civil war has just begun in this semi-autobiographical drama by writer-director Ziad Doueiri (a UCLA-trained filmmaker who has worked as a cinematographer for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez). With his younger brother cast in the lead role, Doueiri spins an uncommonly compelling coming-of-age story about life and loyalties in a divided city. At first, Tarek and his buddy Omar (Mohammad Chamus) are too caught up in their day-to-day lives, and too happy about the closing of their school, to worry much about the schism between Christian-controlled East Beirut and a West Beirut controlled by Muslim militias. But as the ethnic and religious clashes intensify, Tarek is forced to confront the collateral damage outside his apartment (bombs reduce buildings to rubble, soldiers and snipers control key thoroughfares) and within his family (his parents repeatedly quarrel over whether they should abandon their homeland). "West Beirut" is at once vividly detailed and effectively understated as it views war through the eyes of a resourceful teen-ager who's determined to make the best of things in the worst of times.

This is a great movie for anyone who has lived in Lebanon at the start of the civil war in 1975. The movie depictes the times and mood of Beirut in 1975 very well. The movie accurately depicts the Lebanese youth, their sense of humour, and unrelentless desire to live, and have fun. However this is a sad movie. This is a movie about war, people, and survival. The consequences that war has on the youth is also well depicted. Yes kids were happy that school was shut for a day, a week, a month at times, but the future was uncertain to them, their dreams were shattered, and they began to feel these consequences as the war progressed.

This movie was amazing and when I watched it back in 1999, it really moved me. Eversince then I had begun to appreciate movies as forms of communication and not just hollywood entertainment. It was raw and real. As a Kiwi-Arab, I truly can relate to this, and recommend to all estranged Arabs as well as anyone interested in Arab society. i am only sad that I can't find anymore movies he had directed.

As a Lebanese-American this film helped me to realize what my people in Lebanon had to deal with during the war. It shows the difficulty of living a normal life in the land that you love during a horrible war. Even though it is a sad movie, the typical Lebanese humor helps to lighten up the scene. I recommend this movie to anyone interested in Lebanon, the Middle East, or in a good movie in general. It also helped to brush up on my Arabic.

Summary: EXCELLENT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a WONDERFUL movie, it is a historical glimpse on Lebanon, 1975, through the eyes of a teenager. If (usually) U.S. citizens ask themselves "how can "those people" live in "those countries"? This is the perfect answer to it. When you have a LIFE, FRIENDS, FAMILY, when you don't believe that things can be changed, when life is LIKE THAT, you accept things that you cannot change.

The protagonist (EXCELLENT actor Rami Doueiri) goes through life as a happy go lucky teenager, used to living under such political changes, but untouched by them. In this movie of "coming of age", you can follow him in his seamless transition into adulthood: the realization of what life has became.

PLEASE DO NOT MISS THIS MOVIE - IT IS A MUST SEE - from any angle that you may want to look at it. You will gain different undertanding of things that you probably had before, if you are not a citizen from Lebanon, watch it and learn something.

Great performances, excellent cinematography and a touching war story full of themes of love and despair. Another movie I recommend is "Underground": a war tale of 50 turbulent years in Yugoslavia.

This movie is about the beginning of the civil war in beirut . The director did a great job portraying the life of teenagers , parents , and common people during this period. I had tears in my eyes while i was watching the movie... because i was laughing so hard. Ziad doueiri gathered a brilliant cast , that didnt need to act a role but rather paraphrase their lives in the movie. This movie is one the happiest dramas you can watch, and it will give you true insight on how it is to grow during wartime .

I liked this movie a lot. Set in Beirut in 1975, at the start of the Lebanese civil war, it follows the actions of three teenaged friends (two Muslim, one Christian) as their city and country rapidly descend into division and sectarian strife. There is a lot of humor in it, befitting the resilience of youth, but always in the viewer's mind it is tempered by the awareness that around the young people their world has descended into war and anarchy. I think anyone interested in modern Lebanon or, more broadly,in the way people adapt and struggle to get by when forces beyond their control take over, would enjoy this witty but sad film.

This was surprisingly a superb and satirical movie that captures the tense moments of a fragile life in Beirut during the civil war. The actors were outstanding, colorful and noisy except for the father. The fact that the director can do this with style, compassion and humor and let events speak for themselves was artful. West Beirut is a masterpiece.

The characters here do not win a Million dollars, instead they win over your heart and soul. Brilliance is the only word that can describe the quality of this film. Hats off to Ziad Doueiri and crew. The dialogue is as real and as funny as it gets. This film is a true showcase of adolescence while the kids of Lebanon and their families are trying to cope with the woes of an unfortunate civil war.

A must see for global audiences over 16 years of age.

Vive le Liban.