Under the Bombs (2007)

Recommended

Lebanon/France/UK

Feature Film

Original Title: تحت القصف

Director: Philippe Aractingi

Writers: Philippe Aractingi, Michel Léviant

Cinematographer: Nidal Abdel Khalek

Composers: René Aubry, Lazare Boghossian

Cast: Nada Abou Farhat, Georges Khabbaz, Rawia Elchab

After the declaration of the UN monitored ceasefire following Israel’s 33 day bombardment of South Lebanon in 2006, a wealthy expat (Abou Farhat, outstanding), who is having marital troubles, returns to her hometown in search of her 6-year-old son, who was staying with her sister at the onset of hostilities, aided by an opportunistic taxi driver, who dreams of one day opening a restaurant in Germany with his brother, in Aractingi’s painfully authentic film, a potent and affecting mix of documentary and drama. Iain.Stott