West Beitur - Film Analysis - West Beirut – Film Analysis Ziad Doueiri, the director of West Beirut - Studocu
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West Beitur - Film Analysis

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Arabic cinema visual (ARB3101)

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West Beirut – Film Analysis

Ziad Doueiri, the director of West Beirut (1998), attempts to portray his childhood experience of the civil war by depicting how an innocent character of a kid fails to understand the severity of the situation of war and tries to have fun and laugh about it, but in the end realises how he is a victim of war as well. By casting the three major protagonists as children, the filmmaker lightens the tone of the film during a period of conflict and avoids the political fallout that would have resulted from casting adult lead characters.

The film begins with Tarek and his mates watching a duel of fighter planes in the sky from the school's playground. The students are portrayed smiling and supporting the combat, demonstrating two stark differences concerning the realities of wars (source), and demonstrating how these schoolchildren were clueless and kept in the dark about the condition of the civil war by their school and parents. These differences become more pronounced as the film unfolds, and Tarek realises the severity of the civil war scenario. (Krishnan, 2019)

Tarek is an ordinary boy who dislikes school and enjoys having fun at school. While standing out of class as a punishment, Tarek sees with his own eyes a terrorist assault on a bus full of Muslims, which is what sparked Beirut's split. The next day, when Tarek's parents bring him to school, they are stopped by armed men who inform them that East Beirut, where the school is located, is only available to Christians. This sequence establishes the tone for the remainder of the film by depicting how the city was split between East for Christians and West for Muslims.

Layla Safi, Uncle Badeeh's wife, was sexualized, objectified, and dehumanised, with Tarek and his friend Omar drooling all over her and even capturing her with their camera in an inappropriate manner. The film then spends a large amount of time discussing Tarek and his buddy Omar's desire to make the film that used Layla Safi's video. The tough thing was that the film developing store was in forbidden East Beirut, which was exclusively accessible to Christians.

Tarek falls in love with his new neighbour May, who is an orphan and a Christian, and later goes out with her to bring her his favourite 'Falafel.' He presents May to his buddy, Omar, who accuses him of being insane for inviting a Christian girl to his home. This demonstrates how entrenched sectarian differences existed among the youth. It depicts how Beirut was split into sections controlled by two sectarian factions.

The film then cuts to a public protest in West Beirut. Tarek and his friend Omar attend a protest in favour of Kamal, with the mob shouting "With our blood, we'll remember you, Kamal." Even though Tarek and his friend have no idea who Kamal is, they join the protest, demonstrating how simple it is for a community to embrace anybody based on sectarianism. During the protest, gunmen opened fire on the protestors, including Tarek and Omar, according to the film. Tarek is eventually discovered hiding in a vehicle, which is then brought to Oum Walid's brothel in East Beirut. At Beirut, Oum Walid was a legend and a myth, and she saw

Omar having the time of his life in the brothel, but she begged him to leave since the environment was unsafe for him.

Tarek accompanies his friends Omar and May to the dangerous Zeytouni neighbourhood in East Beirut to visit Oum Walid's brothel. Oum Walid becomes enraged at Tarek for jeopardising his and his friends' lives and demands them to leave. She also tells them how one of her 'girls' slept with two men of different religions, which put her in trouble. She laments how the conflict has now penetrated her brothel; here is when the film takes on a much more serious tone as the filmmaker attempts to demonstrate how the civil war has infiltrated all elements of Lebanese society, including the supposedly entertaining brothel. Tarek finally realised the seriousness of the predicament he, his family, and his friends were in in Beirut after being forced to leave Oum Walid's brothel. It finally dawns on him that he and his parents eat sardines three times each week and that his father is unemployed. He was also concerned about being alone if his parents were slain in the war.

When there is a nationwide food scarcity, Tarek and his mother travel to Hassan's bread shop to acquire some bread, the story follows a much more serious and deeper tone. They are confronted with a huge queue of individuals who are begging for bread. One of the sectarian fighters who claims to defend the neighbourhood, 'Papa Snake,' arrives and wants 20 sacks of bread, which Hassan flatly refuses. Hassan is then attacked by Papa Snake, who destroys his bread and flour. Tarek's mother has had enough and bursts into tears, pleading with Tarek's father to leave Lebanon as a family and stating that she can no longer live in such humiliation. Tarek's father responds to her by saying that no Western country will accept them and that they are labelled as "terrorists" and "Hashish sellers," implying that life in the West is also devoid of dignity. This is extremely similar to today's times, when Western countries closed their borders and humiliated Syrian refugees as a result of the Syrian Civil War.

In conclusion, this film demonstrates that the split of Beirut was not as straightforward as the media made it out to be. The borders were permeable, and individuals moved between the two halves of the city on a regular basis. Mary, a Christian, lived on the West Bank of Beirut and was disinterested in joining sides in either the West or the East. The fundamental message of the film, it may be said, is that the people of Beirut did not believe in sectarianism-based city partition, and that the city was split and hijacked by militias and power-hungry sectarian politicians. (Abu-Hijleh, 2021) Tarek's character was wonderfully developed by the filmmaker from someone who was unconcerned about the conflict to a little child who wept at the end at the possibility of losing his family, revealing his own personal experiences with the war.

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West Beitur - Film Analysis

Course: Arabic cinema visual (ARB3101)

6 Documents
Students shared 6 documents in this course

University: University of Ottawa

Was this document helpful?
West Beirut – Film Analysis
Ziad Doueiri, the director of West Beirut (1998), attempts to portray his childhood experience of
the civil war by depicting how an innocent character of a kid fails to understand the severity of
the situation of war and tries to have fun and laugh about it, but in the end realises how he is a
victim of war as well. By casting the three major protagonists as children, the filmmaker lightens
the tone of the film during a period of conflict and avoids the political fallout that would have
resulted from casting adult lead characters.
The film begins with Tarek and his mates watching a duel of fighter planes in the sky from the
school's playground. The students are portrayed smiling and supporting the combat,
demonstrating two stark differences concerning the realities of wars (source), and
demonstrating how these schoolchildren were clueless and kept in the dark about the condition
of the civil war by their school and parents. These differences become more pronounced as the
film unfolds, and Tarek realises the severity of the civil war scenario. (Krishnan, 2019)
Tarek is an ordinary boy who dislikes school and enjoys having fun at school. While standing out
of class as a punishment, Tarek sees with his own eyes a terrorist assault on a bus full of
Muslims, which is what sparked Beirut's split. The next day, when Tarek's parents bring him to
school, they are stopped by armed men who inform them that East Beirut, where the school is
located, is only available to Christians. This sequence establishes the tone for the remainder of
the film by depicting how the city was split between East for Christians and West for Muslims.
Layla Safi, Uncle Badeeh's wife, was sexualized, objectified, and dehumanised, with Tarek and
his friend Omar drooling all over her and even capturing her with their camera in an
inappropriate manner. The film then spends a large amount of time discussing Tarek and his
buddy Omar's desire to make the film that used Layla Safi's video. The tough thing was that the
film developing store was in forbidden East Beirut, which was exclusively accessible to
Christians.
Tarek falls in love with his new neighbour May, who is an orphan and a Christian, and later goes
out with her to bring her his favourite 'Falafel.' He presents May to his buddy, Omar, who
accuses him of being insane for inviting a Christian girl to his home. This demonstrates how
entrenched sectarian differences existed among the youth. It depicts how Beirut was split into
sections controlled by two sectarian factions.
The film then cuts to a public protest in West Beirut. Tarek and his friend Omar attend a protest
in favour of Kamal, with the mob shouting "With our blood, we'll remember you, Kamal." Even
though Tarek and his friend have no idea who Kamal is, they join the protest, demonstrating
how simple it is for a community to embrace anybody based on sectarianism.
During the protest, gunmen opened fire on the protestors, including Tarek and Omar, according
to the film. Tarek is eventually discovered hiding in a vehicle, which is then brought to Oum
Walid's brothel in East Beirut. At Beirut, Oum Walid was a legend and a myth, and she saw

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