West Beirut | 
 enlarge | Director: Ziad Doueiri
Actors: Rami Doueiri, Mohamad Chamas, Rola Al Amin, Carmen Lebbos, Joseph Bou Nassar
Studio: New Yorker Video
Category: Video
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $15.95
You Save: $14.00 (47%)
Used (7) from $15.95
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 17087
Format: Color, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: Arabic (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 3.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 1567302327
UPC: 717119749132
EAN: 9781567302325
ASIN: B00005ALOX
Theatrical Release Date: 1999
Release Date: April 24, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Former rental in good condition, may contain rental stickers.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Ziad Doueiri established his credentials as the assistant cameraman on Quentin Tarantino's early films, but his feature debut, West Beirut, belongs to the more European strain of coming-of-age films than Tarantino's cool crime wave. Tarek is a rebellious class clown and aspiring filmmaker, a restless Lebanese teenager who rails against European colonialism with little acts of defiance at the French High School of Beirut. It's 1975. Fighter jets ominously scream overhead, soldier convoys rumble through the streets, and the tensions that grip the city explode when a violent terrorist attack sinks Beirut into civil war. Tarek, played by director Doueiri's younger brother Rami in a spirited, charming performance, becomes Ziad's cinematic alter ego and a spiritual cousin to Francois Truffaut's Antoine Doinel. When a military blockade splits the city in half, cutting Tarek and his friends off from their school, the war zone becomes their playground. Doueiri never slights the danger of their situation and fills the background with telling detail (from snipers and booby traps to the increasing racial and religious intolerance), but his heart is with the adolescent adventure of his recklessly naive kids. He captures an excitement and energetic curiosity only possible in the innocence of youth as they dodge military patrols, sneak across checkpoints, shoot their Super 8 movies, and fall in love in the shadow of war. Former Police drummer Stewart Copeland provides a funky rhythmic score with a Mideast inflection, easily one of his best. --Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 excellent coming of age story in civil war Lebanon January 20, 2007
Renee B. Fulton (Reston, Va USA)
This film, nominated in 1999 as Best Foreign film, is a very sweet film about three young people coming of age in Lebanon during civil war. It does a great job at picking up some of the idiosyncrasies of the Lebanese people, as well as the French under whom they were once ruled. Its very entertaining, has great music, and does an extraordinary job of conveying the nuances of the society and its societal partitions. It illustrates religious conflicts while remaining a gentle and humane film. Even people who don't normally like foreign films should watch this movie because it shows how much more alike we all are than how we are different.
The cathartic gaze! May 19, 2006
Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela)
Beirut 1975. Anarchy and violence surround all the urban environment. The city is under siege, clearly divided in two regions: the Christian and the Muslim, but a brothel is no man's land and is the only demilitarized zone.
The childhood' s dreams can still live in the middle of the wrecking flames, intransigence and public disillusions. Humor and poignancy will invade the implacable crudeness of this uncultured environment.
Nominated in 1999 as Best Foreign film.
The Best Lebanese Film February 3, 2006
Hussain Abdul-Hussain (Washington,DC USA)
Doueiri's West Beirut is many things. First, it's the best produced and directed Lebanese movie. Second, it's the only film that depicts the outbreak and early days of the Lebanese civil war. Third, it's a lovely drama about the coming of age of three teenagers at the time of the outbreak of the war in 1975. Fourth, it is perhaps the first and only film that captures the realities of daily life and dialogue in Lebanon for it is no doubt the only movie where actors actually use foul language and swear, a feature that is very common among the Lebanese people but is always censored and never seen on film.
However, such a wonderful production should have taken into consideration the minor details that would have made the film even greater. Doueiri knows better that April 13, 1975 fell on a Sunday and accordingly, Beirut schools - unlike in the movie - would have been closed.
Doueiri also should have paid attention to the accent of some of the characters he that presented. One of them who identifies herself as a southerner actually talks with a heavy Beiruti accent. In other instances, cars made in the 1990s appear in the background in some shots. Pictures of Nabih Berri as Speaker of the House can be also seen hanging on the walls in other shots.
Yet, all of these minute discrepancies are far from stripping the film out of its brilliance. The movie is a must see for all those curious about Lebanon and the Middle East.
Shrewd comdey March 20, 2004
Yasmine (Montreal , Canada)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This movie is about the beginning of the civil war in beirut . The director did a great job portraying the life of teenagers , parents , and common people during this period. I had tears in my eyes while i was watching the movie... because i was laughing so hard. Ziad doueiri gathered a brilliant cast , that didnt need to act a role but rather paraphrase their lives in the movie. This movie is one the happiest dramas you can watch, and it will give you true insight on how it is to grow during wartime .
Innocense lost and real life sadness August 10, 2003
Ammar Al-Sagban (New Zealand)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This movie was amazing and when I watched it back in 1999, it really moved me. Eversince then I had begun to appreciate movies as forms of communication and not just hollywood entertainment. It was raw and real. As a Kiwi-Arab, I truly can relate to this, and recommend to all estranged Arabs as well as anyone interested in Arab society. i am only sad that I can't find anymore movies he had directed.
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