Les petites guerres (1982)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Maroun Bagdadi

Writers:

Maroun Bagdadi (writer)
Kamal Kassar (dialogue)

Release Date:

9 February 1983 (Georgia)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Lebanon, 1975. How Tahal, an affluent young man becomes a warlord ; how Soraya, the girl he leaves behind...

Cast

Roger Hawa	...	Talal
Youcef Hosni	...	L'oncle de Soraya
Nabil Ismaïl	...	Nabil
Reda Khoury	...	La mère de Talal
Soraya Khoury	...	Soraya
Rifaat Tarabay	...	Selim

Also Known As:

Houroub saghira (Lebanon: Arabic title)
Little Wars

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

France | Lebanon

Language:

French | Arabic

Color:

Color | Color (Fujicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Beyrouth, Lebanon

Valuable as a document. Poor as a movie.

This is indisputably a film of interest. Indeed Maroun Bagdadi courageously undertakes to shoot this sincere movie in the middle of the bloody civil war that rages out in his motherland, Lebanon. And his stance is all the more commendable as it is far from an easy one : isn't his approach to criticize and denounce those among his compatriots who have started this horrible conflict out of sheer self-interest and cynicism ? The trouble is that "Petites Guerres" has not bloomed into a Lebanese "I accuse" but has resulted in a boring,muddled ghost of a movie. I tried very hard to understand, held on bravely but I must confess that I figured out neither the motivations nor the behaviors of the ectoplasm's characters. It may simply be because I am French and I don't have all the clues or isn't it because Bagdadi aimed too complacently at being arty ? Whatever the case may be, I didn't like the confused story, the opaque characters and the brooding actors. And I just hate having to admit it.is