stephen  d. leece

Blind Flight won a stack of awards in the UK upon its release in late 2003/ early 2004.

Here at Mr. Magoo of the Middle East however industry awards do not prove anything.

As a Brit that recalls vividly the Lebanon Hostage crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s one would expect a dramatization of the incarceration of Brian Keenan and John McCarthy to be a riveting cinematic experience. Alas that was not the case.

The simple fact of the tale is this: grumpy academic from the Irish Republic accepts a teaching job in Beirut at the height of the Civil War and gets kidnapped by Hezbollah.

Brit Journalist, who is very very English is sent out to report on the kidnapping and he himself gets kidnapped.

Irish Patriot objects to sharing a safe house/ cell with a Brit, and eventually they both help each other through the four years plus of captivity.

Part of the problem is that if this were made perhaps ten years earlier it would have been the must see Brit movie of the year, but times have changed.

This is not to cast aspersions on director John Furse’s directorial abilities and certainly not on the abilities of the cast consisting of Ian Hart and Linus ‘Ken Barlow’s son’ Roache as Keenan and McCarthy respectively.

Connoisseurs of Middle Eastern TV and Cinema will also spot Mohamad Chamas of West Beirut fame playing the youngest and most vicious of the gaolers.

But even with such a fine cast this film barely gets off the ground.

If Mr. Magoo of the Middle East has been too harsh here, please let us know. We would appreciate a second opinion.