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Lebanon’s
civil war as told through the eyes of a child.
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Jean
Khalil Chamoun, France/Lebanon, 2000, 100 min
Coming
of age stories are overdone in Hollywood movies and the independent
cinema. Yet at times the genre perpetuates in new forms to give it a
facelift worth taking a second look. Such is the case with Jean
Khalil Chamoun’s In the Shadows of the City, which takes a
surprising neutral stance to focus on the subtle human aspects of
those who suffered in Lebanon’s nearly 16-year civil war.
It’s
November 15, 1974 when a bomb suddenly drops in South Lebanon
forever changing the life of 12-year old Rami, who dreams of being
an artist, and his family. After enduring three days of Israeli
bombing, Rami and his family flee to Beirut hoping to escape the
brutalities of war only to find themselves forever entangled in
nucleus of a “civil” war that rips apart the city, their family
and their whole existence.
The
drama, which played in New York at the Human Rights Watch Film
Festival last week, takes the audience through the density of the
civil war at an unflinching eye-level. The first half beautifully
portrays Rami’s childhood. Rami, on the cusp of manhood, deals
with new friendships, his first job and the pangs of first love as
the war begins to tear the city asunder.
The
scenes of Rami’s first year in Beirut are especially heartwarming
in its sense of innocence under the guise of impending war. We are
introduced to a fascinating array of characters, some humoristic
(the “Winch”), some sinister (the “Hyena”) and others an
eerie foreshadow of the future to come. But most striking in the
movie is its strange, yet somewhat necessary, apolitical,
non-religious flavor.
The
civil war in Lebanon was one that pitted Muslims against Christians.
But with Rami and his friends it’s hard to determine who is Muslim
and who isn’t. Rami’s mother covers her head, but so do other
Christian women. Also, Rami’s first-love and best friend, Yasmin,
seems to be Muslim yet later her brother, Nadeem, and Rami end up on
opposite sides of the battle. And each side sports good and bad
characters.
Chamoun
says he deliberately avoided specifying who was Christian and who
was Muslim, especially when it came to the fighting scenes. “There
is a good and a bad in the film,” he says, but I didn’t mention
by name. We had good guys from all sects and we had bad guys.
“The
problem in this film isn’t [determining which is the Christian
side and which is the Muslim one]. There’s no Christian or Muslim
in the dialogue – it’s ridiculous. In the West the emphasis is
on this Christian/Muslim thing, when that wasn’t the case at
all,” he adds. Chamoun, who scoffs at the idea that Lebanon
endured a purely civil war, went on to say that outside factions,
especially the Israeli government incited the Lebanese to fight each
other.
In
the film the early scenes of Rami and his friends, Yasmin and Walid,
rise above the tensions of the city around them. Their eyes speak
depths as they develop tight bonds. Yet their purity fast diminishes
as the war’s noose tightens, causing Yasmin and her family to flee
and Walid to join the resistance. Rami finds himself caught in the
middle, unwilling to choose sides.
Fast
forward 12 years and we find Rami (Majdi Machmouch) still struggling
to remain neutral. He transports war victims to local hospitals,
which brings him in contact again with Walid and the “Winch,”
who are both fully involved in the resistance. They urge him to
join, but he maintains his stance. But when he and his father are
captured by the “enemy” on the frontline, Rami escapes only to
lose his father.
Thus
begins the distressing social commentary on the kidnapped hostages
of the war. Rami, to avenge his father, joins up with the
resistance. He fights through the streets, alleyways and shelled
buildings of Lebanon, with the blast of guns echoing through the
streets at every turn. Chamoun yanks the viewer into the war,
bringing the rubble, smoke, fear and deception of the skirmishes to
an unavoidable level. Every facet of life, every person is affected
by the war.
“To
make films about 16 years of civil war, it’s not enough,”
Chamoun says. “It’s just part of what I saw. The country is weak
because of the war. The sectarian problem is still a bit problem.
People in power now are like the “Hyena” and Abou Samir (who is
a leader in the resistance movement in the film). They were fighting
against each other and now are in power together.”
In
the Shadows of the City skillfully depicts the ravages of war on
a vastly personal level. Though scenes of flirtations and some
inappropriate dress may not be conducive to a Muslim audience, the
larger social and political context is not to be missed. It may
surprise viewers to see the absence of religion in the movie, but
that very posture allows for a more direct level of contact – from
one damaged heart to another. 
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