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Manolete

I want to see Manolete, the new film staring Adrien Brodie and Penelope Cruz. The trailer is here. I quite like Tauromachie - the art of bull fighting, even though I've only been to one bull fight. The culture surrounding it - often Gypsy - is amazing. I love the wine, the cheese, the sevillanas, and the way people dance in the streets.

I also want this shirt.

Labels: culture, film

West Beyrouth

I watched West Beyrouth yesterday. Though I have seen a lot of films lately, few have stood out like Ziad Doueiri's 1998 coming-of-age story that takes place in Beirut during the civil war. The soundtrack, the acting, and cinematography were highlights. Though the story was well written, I felt that there wasn't enough character development.

In the title of the film, West is in English, but Beyrouth is written in French. Apparently Doueiri wanted to show the trilingual culture of the country. It seems to me that he does a good job portraying that culture in the movie. He brings up the tensions of conservatism versus reform, Islam versus Christianity, and Western aid versus nationalism.

The highlight of the movie for me was the closing scene. Hala and Riad, Tarek's parents, look at the map of Europe. They discuss whether the war had brought them closer together or separated them more. Riad asks if they will stay together once the war is over. She says yes and insists that she loves him. She asks him to play the sitar and lights up a cigarette. He begins to play slowly, and real images of the war begin mix with images of them sitting together on the couch. I found it on youtube. It's a great scene.

The acting was also done well. All of the actors are fairly unknown in the US, but they all did very well. Highlights were Tarek's father Riad and his friend May.

The sound track was done by Stewart Copeland - the drummer from the Police. I was surprised to see that he would write so much music that had Eastern influences. But I looked it up, and he actually spent part of his childhood in the Middle-East.

Labels: film, the middle east