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Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9781567302325 Format: Color, Letterboxed, Subtitled, NTSC ISBN: 1567302327 Label: New Yorker Video Languages: Manufacturer: New Yorker Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: New Yorker Video Release Date: April 24, 2001 Running Time: 105 minutes Studio: New Yorker Video Theatrical Release Date: 1999 Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Ziad Doueiri established his credentials as the assistant cameraman on Quentin Tarantino's early films, but his feature debut, West Beirut, belongs to the more European strain of coming-of-age films than Tarantino's cool crime wave. Tarek is a rebellious class clown and aspiring filmmaker, a restless Lebanese teenager who rails against European colonialism with little acts of defiance at the French High School of Beirut. It's 1975. Fighter jets ominously scream overhead, soldier convoys rumble through the streets, and the tensions that grip the city explode when a violent terrorist attack sinks Beirut into civil war. Tarek, played by director Doueiri's younger brother Rami in a spirited, charming performance, becomes Ziad's cinematic alter ego and a spiritual cousin to François Truffaut's Antoine Doinel. When a military blockade splits the city in half, cutting Tarek and his friends off from their school, the war zone becomes their playground. Doueiri never slights the danger of their situation and fills the background with telling detail (from snipers and booby traps to the increasing racial and religious intolerance), but his heart is with the adolescent adventure of his recklessly naïve kids. He captures an excitement and energetic curiosity only possible in the innocence of youth as they dodge military patrols, sneak across checkpoints, shoot their Super 8 movies, and fall in love in the shadow of war. Former Police drummer Stewart Copeland provides a funky rhythmic score with a Mideast inflection, easily one of his best. --Sean Axmaker Average Rating:
 Rating:  - excellent coming of age story in civil war LebanonThis film, nominated in 1999 as Best Foreign film, is a very sweet film about three young people coming of age in Lebanon during civil war. It does a great job at picking up some of the idiosyncrasies of the Lebanese people, as well as the French under whom they were once ruled. Its very entertaining, has great music, and does an extraordinary job of conveying the nuances of the society and its societal partitions. It illustrates religious conflicts while remaining a gentle and humane film. Even ... Read More Rating: - The cathartic gaze!Beirut 1975. Anarchy and violence surround all the urban environment. The city is under siege, clearly divided in two regions: the Christian and the Muslim, but a brothel is no man's land and is the only demilitarized zone. The childhood' s dreams can still live in the middle of the wrecking flames, intransigence and public disillusions. Humor and poignancy will invade the implacable crudeness of this uncultured environment. Nominated in 1999 as Best Foreign film. ... Read More Rating: - The Best Lebanese FilmDoueiri's West Beirut is many things. First, it's the best produced and directed Lebanese movie. Second, it's the only film that depicts the outbreak and early days of the Lebanese civil war. Third, it's a lovely drama about the coming of age of three teenagers at the time of the outbreak of the war in 1975. Fourth, it is perhaps the first and only film that captures the realities of daily life and dialogue in Lebanon for it is no doubt the only movie where actors actually use foul language and swear, ... Read More Rating: - Shrewd comdeyThis 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 . Rating: - Innocense lost and real life sadnessThis 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. |
