stephen  d. leece

If you are an old git, and by that this reviewer means, over 21, this film may take multiple viewings before it is fully appreciated.

Although set during the early days of the Lebanese Civil War, the war itself is merely a backdrop to a touching coming of age drama- hence the warning- the viewer has to be young enough to remember their awkward teenage years to fully understand the characters.

West Beirut is about three friends, two Sunni lads (Tarek and Omar), and a Christian girl (May) who prior to the outbreak of war and the division of the city along sectarian lines while their time away winding up their French teacher and making Super 8 films.

Upon the outbreak of war, which features a dramatic reconstruction of the bus shooting which lit the blue touch paper, the three friends have very little to do but turn the battlefields into an adventure playground.

As the war gets progressively nastier, Tarek’s mother wants to leave Beirut for abroad, while her husband wishes to remain.

The film alludes to key events in the early phase of the war, such as the ID Card killings also known as Black Saturday “If anyone asks you your religion you say you are Lebanese,” and offers insights as to how the Lebanese perceived themselves at the time, “We can’t go to London- to them we are nothing more than drug dealers.”

Ultimately the three children cross the Green Line from West Beirut to East Beirut in search of a legendary brothel (via May’s brassiere in an indescribable scene that has to be seen to be believed) as they cease to be children and become young adults.

West Beirut is worth watching simply for the show-stealing performance of Mohamad Chamas as Omar. It also acts as a trip down memory lane to for what many viewers will regard as their misspent youth, that somehow remains a cherished memory.