'West Beirut', the debut film from Ziad Doueiri, tells the story of three friends,two boys and a girl, who live in the recently divided West side of Beirut. These characters are equipped with nothing but their bikes and their Super 8 camera. We follow them through their daily lives and watch as the world around them changes with the Lebanese Civil War. Fighter Planes flying over, visits to the bomb shelter, and armed men patrolling the streets all become parts of their daily lives. This movie shows the slow devastation of a once proud country and its people through the people's point of view, but most of all it shows that civil war is fought by the consensus of the people in the country, on the contrary, the civilians are victims trying to survive without ammunition. These people are sitting in their homes with their families, going out and buying groceries, hanging out with their friends, but are considered the enemy because of their religion. Slowly, war begins to change these once carefree characters and movie shifts to become a coming of age story with the backdrop of a broken city. These characters introduce you to the other side of war and depict the effects of war on their surroundings and everyone around them.
Review of West Beirut
