My town’s public library hosts free independent films from around the world every Thursday evening. Back in the summer the award winning docudrama Under the Bombs was shown, but I missed my opportunity to see it in the library’s auditorium. Later I checked it out since the library makes the all films they screen available on DVD for the public to take home and enjoy.
When Lebanon was 10 days into a summer war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, Lebanese director Philippe Aractingi had the bravery to go out and film the bombs falling, the explosions, and the devastation that affected his country. His filming of the war led him to create a fictitious story around the horrors he saw. So Under the Bombs was formed.
Under the Bombs is more of an anti-war than an anti-Israeli film. The film begins with shots of bombs falling on Lebanon. The explosions and their ominous flashes are more ugly and frightening than any Hollywood special effect. I had to wonder how anyone could survive those monstrous bombs. This film contains raw realism and is not for the faint of heart or the sentimental. No dismembered or crushed bodies are shown, but the devastation of war is shown in its entirety, collapsed and bombed out buildings, broken bridges, children and adults forced into refugee shelters, the human anguish.
In the midst of the devastation an attractive Lebanese woman has come back to her homeland from Dubai via Turkey. Her name is Zelna. Because of marital problems she sent her son Karim to Lebanon shortly before the outbreak of the war to live with her sister who resides in a village in south Lebanon. Now she has come back to frantically search for her son. Zelna is a Shia Muslim.
Zelna arrives at the Port of Beirut during the ceasefire. She has a difficult time getting a taxi driver who is brave enough and greedy enough to drive her to south Lebanon. Finally she comes upon Tony, a big eyed squirrely fellow, who is willing to drive her. Tony has the hustler instinct, and he’s immediately attracted to Zelna. He is also a Christian. Right off the bat he starts to flirt with Zelna, but she is dignified and all business. Zelna lets Tony know that she is annoyed by his fresh behavior.
The film becomes an odyssey of Zelna’s search for her son, and how both Zelna and Tony change over time as they journey through Lebanon’s beautiful but destroyed landscape. At first Tony is concerned only with the money and whether he might be able to get Zelna in bed, but the journey changes both of them. Going from one devastated area of Lebanon to another, stopping at refugee shelters, talking to individuals, this road trip starts to transform Zelna and Tony. Zelna unleashes her worry and grief about her son, her marriage, and the war. She tells Tony about her miscarriages and the son she eventually had. She briefly talks about when she learned that her husband had cheated on her. Even though she has a husband that betrayed her, Zelna still calls back and forth to Dubai to keep him posted about whether she might be getting closer to finding their son. Tony begins to see Zelna as more than just a female he might go lucky with; he opens up about his own personal life, his son, and the mother of his son. He tells Zelna of his dream of immigrating to Germany. He even tells of his brother who lives in Israel. Zelna’s and Tony’s relationship evolves into something than just about money or the sexual. It becomes a bond of respect. Zelna’s quest to find her boy becomes Tony’s quest too. The flirtatious banter evaporates, and Tony vows that he is not going to part ways with Zelna until they find her son.
I won’t tell anymore about the movie’s plot. I will just let you check it out.
Under the Bombs is nothing like a Hollywood film. Only the two actors that play Zelna and Tony are professionals. Philippe Aractingi used actual civilians who had survived the war to flesh out the story. Everything is played out in the middle of the ruins of war. Under the Bombs shows that modern warfare is merciless to all, especially civilians. Those who start wars, the politicians and demagogues often go unhurt. It’s the population who just want to go about their daily lives that are killed and displaced when the bombs start falling and the troops move in. The film shows that war does not discriminate by class or religion. Humanity should be ashamed that we have reached a point where war does not just destroy the lives of soldiers as in the olden days of war, but war is now a catastrophe for civilians; it kills the innocents.
It’s rare that Hollywood comes up with anything but escapism. I’m happy that at least there are foreign directors that are serious enough and not so driven by money that are brave enough to produce thought provoking, artistic, and creative films. Under the Bombs is a film that might truly make you think and rethink your attitude about war.
Links to Under the Bombs:
Official Website of Under the Bombs
Under the Bombs Wikipedia Article
