Heritages

Heritages is an amazing work of art. It embodies all the emotions, exciting and painful, that accompany every Lebanese leaving his country. This work made me tear up and laugh many times during the movie. While I may not be the best judge of cinematic techniques, it is definitely a movie that speaks to all hearts, especially those that left their country. Philip Araktingi made me think about going back to live in Lebanon. He reignited the belief in the Lebanese people and country as one day making it in the world. It reached to every aspect of a Lebanese life throughout its life stages: childhood through adulthood. It speaks to all of us. It is highly recommended if you are Lebanese and like the fact that you are Lebanese.

First of all, if you have not lived through the civil war, tasted its wrath and experienced so much of what the director presents and describes throughout the movie, you are in no position to rate it. Everything portrayed is accurate and quite moving, transporting you back to the best years of our lives. Yes, we lived in the war, we struggled, we fought, we persevered and then we showed our kids what it was like to be born and raised in the most beautiful country on earth. The views, the brief historical scenes, the narration will bring you tears, laughter, smiles and a immense feeling of pride. It is produced with taste, it is real and truly touching. Thank you Philippe and family for keeping our heritage alive.

It really takes a a special type of delusional and borderline abusive director/protagonist/father of three to subject his kids to this war storyline. There are some interesting historical aspects of this rich exiled family. The movie is an off-shoot of his other movie "Under the Bombs" where Philippe Aractingi returns to a Lebanon fresh out of a ceasefire to film, askin to a passerby taking photos of a recent car crash. It was not enough that France evacuated him and family at the taxpayer's cost, he must return to Lebanon days after the ceasefire. And coerce his wife to bring his kids from France where they are safe. And show the kids the horrors of war including bullet shells that he collected as a child hilmself. This man is dangerous.

NB: This film is very relatable to me having the same age as the director; lived the civil war in Lebanon until 1984 where I left to study in France; lived the war in 2006 with my four children while on vacation and we have been evacuated by the first French boat to Cyprus. Therefore, every part of this film means alot to me.

Great flashback over 30 years earlier where director show his own experience of wars in Lebanon. Read about it in school, listened to his parents about previous wars, lived the civil war in 1975 and then the 2006. The best way to describe this film is "Art" instead of documentary. The director bring us on a journey of emotions and discoveries where individual, family and history play central stage. Leveraging the family, resemblences, shooting techniques, and mixing past with today play great deal of creation. The protagonist act by engaging others like mother, wife, children, and neighbours faced with the love of two countries.

Recommend to everyone looking for something different.

A deep journey in the Lebanese story through the eyes, the memories and the emotions of a family and its generations. Nostalgic, emotional and so attached to Life, the movie and the regisseur express the same spirit that I breath everytime I step in this crazy land called Lebanon. The movie speaks to you as if you were part of the family, an intimate storytelling that combines "theater fiction" and reportage, a wire between past, present and future of a family and of a nation, an attempt to face up the wounds and to heal them with courage and sensitivity . I loved it and I highly recommend it, thamks to the regisseur!