West Beirut Movie Review 1998

Muslim teenagers Tarek (Doueiri, the director's younger brother) and Omar (Chamas) and their new friend, the Christian May (Al Amin), live in an apartment complex in Muslim-controlled West Beirut in 1975. The date is significant since Muslim and Christian militias are battling for control of the Lebanese city and, since their school is closed, the teens have little better to do than to explore the forbidden. Arabic with subtitles.

Distribution

New Yorker Video, 16 W. 61st St., 11th Fl., New York, NY 10023, Phone: (212)645-4600, Toll-free: 800-447-0196, Fax: (212)645-3030, Email: info@newyorkerfilms.com, URL: http://www.newyorkerfilms.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 105 minutes.
Originally from French.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Middle East, Coming of Age, Period Piece: 1970s, Religion, Teen Angst

Screenplay

Ziad Doueiri

Cast

Rami Doueiri, Mohamad Chamas, Rola Al Amin, Leila Karam

Cinematography

Ricardo Jacques Gale

Director

Ziad Doueiri

Music

Stewart Copeland