Two Lebanese Films Explore Tragedy of Beirut

Around The Pink House

Written and directed by Joanna Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, 1999.

A Civilized People

Written and directed by Randa Chahal, 1999.

By KIM JENSEN

In addition to “The Closed Doors” (see page 6), the San Francisco International Film Festival presented two other well-made Arab films, both from Lebanon. The films are “Around the Pink House,” the debut of co-directors Joanna Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, and “A Civilized People” (Civilisees) by longtime filmmaker Randa Chahal Sabbag.

“Around the Pink House” tells the story of two South Lebanese refugee families who for more than a decade have been squatting in a dilapidated old mansion. When the war is over, they are given notice by the wealthy new owner that they must decamp, as he intends to refurbish the building and make it into a shopping plaza. The entire film revolves around the dilemma of eviction, of what these two poor families will do — with no funds, no dignity, and nowhere to go.

Typical of many Lebanese artistic expressions of late, the film tries to tackle these crucial post-war/reconstruction  issues using the tragi-comic approach. A squabble breaks out in the neighborhood between one side, which vaguely believes in “the future,” and the other side, which knows that they have been sold out by the new Beiruti elite. This locally colored feud is used to try to draw a laugh or two from the audience. Street language, pranks and macho male gaping are also deployed in a not-so-original attempt to amuse the viewer.

What’s best about this film are the almost surreal scenes in which the camera allows us access to each character in their private moments. Accompanied by an eerie music and a slowing of the filmic pace, these scenes convey all the ways in which the war is not yet over, the ways it remains as an unresolved trauma in people’s lives. There’s a young militiaman who can’t forget his fallen comrades; a spooked middle aged woman who spends all of her time daydreaming about the old mistress of the mansion; a young, almost catatonic man, obsessed with a phantom of a girl who left him years before. These psychological portraits provide the most moving aspects of the film.

What is least convincing here is the effort of middle-class directors who live primarily in France to write dialogue which sounds like working-class refugees from Southern Lebanon — an admirable attempt at social engagement which often falls short of believability.

In “A Civilized People,” award winning director Randa Chahal Sabbag (“Ecrans de Sable,” “Nos Guerres Imprudentes”) also creates a  tragi-comedy somewhat in the vein of “Beirut ’74” and “Beirut Nightmares” (Ghadda Samman) or “Koolaids” (Rabih Alameddine).  The presence of a fragmented story line, multiple viewpoints, and savage irony all seem to be a common trait of Lebanese war fiction.

Set in one block of East Beirut during the war, the film is a patchwork of stories and characters: Sri Lankan, Egyptian and Philippine maids trapped as unwilling exiles; a wealthy woman who desires nothing more than a tryst with her lover; a Christian girl who falls in love with a Muslim boy at a roadblock; a French doctor from Doctors Without Borders — and the small child who wants to kidnap him for ransom; a Lebanese maid and her Sudanese companion.  All of these characters are presided over by the friendly neighborhood sniper who prays to Jesus and plays cards with a corpse on the roof.

The film effectively highlights, as other fictional works have, the utter absurdity, the madness — even a likeable madness — of the inhabitants of Beirut as they try to cope with daily terror. What is slyly satirized is the capacity of the Lebanese to think of themselves as “better than,” as “refined” and “civilized,” even as they kidnap, torture and butcher each other mercilessly.

Beirut has become not only Ionesco’s “Theater of the Absurd,” it has become Artaud’s “Theater of Cruelty.” These two references are not innocent. “A Civilized People” owes much to a French aesthetic sensibility. It also owes much to the ironic spirit of Ziad Rahbani, whose catchy, droll music punctuates the film.

To Sabbag’s credit, the film is well-produced and edited with precision. But its many qualities cannot override its most stubborn flaw — with so many subplots and characters it is impossible to care deeply about any of them. Like the war itself, with its cynical regard for human life, the film is chaotic and its purpose ill-defined. This may be fine for a civil war, but not for a work of art.  If you happen to be watching “A Civilized People”  in a large crowd of eager spectators, some laughter might be contagious.  But if viewing this film in the privacy of a solitary night, the effect is less comic and more dismaying — on several levels.  

This review appeared in Al Jadid (Vol.6, no. 31, Spring 2000)
Copyright (c) 2000 by Al Jadid