Plot

As the Lebanese civil war rages outside in the streets of Beirut, life in the Sandy Snack bar goes as usual, serving as a microcosm to Beirut in particular and Lebanon in general. Zakaria (Ziad Rahbani) is a bartender who -- like the rest of his compatriots -- suffers from the increasing prices and lack of security. In order to get by, he brings his wife Thorayya (Nabila Zeytouni) to assist him in the bar and to sell herself to the clientele outside the bar. The play focuses on Zakaria's struggle between his jealousy and feeling like a cuckold and his inability to return to poverty by asking his wife to stop working. Meanwhile, Rahbani's commentary on the war, the Lebanese society and its rapid urbanization, and the various forces shaping the war is played out by various characters around the couple: Sheikh Da'fous is a stereotypical rich man from the Gulf who wants to open a hotel in his country and employ Zakaria, Ramiz delivers vegetables from the village and gets enchanted by the city life, Rida is an underpaid busboy who dreams of a better life brought on by his learning English. Ziad Rahbani's witty dialogue and play on words keeps you in stitches and ensures that you'll be quoting this play long after you're done watching. This film was produced in 2016 from footage of the original play from 1978, highlighting how relevant this play remains in our day and age.—Khillo

Zakaria (Ziad Rahbani) is a bartender in Sandy Snack in Hamra, a region in what was then known as West Beirut. This sectarian division is a byproduct of the savage civil war taking place outside the doors of this bar and highlighted by the events going on within its walls. The war has forced Zakaria to bring his wife Thorayya in to work as a bartender officially and as a prostitute unofficially. Her clients are the bar's often foreign clientele. All through the play/movie, Zakaria alternates between the jealous cuckold who wants his wife to quit and the miserable father who wants to give his children the best life and is petrified of returning to poverty. Around Zakaria, we see the daily lives of the Lebanese during the war, and perhaps more significantly, after it: Zakaria's cousin Ramiz lives in the village and delivers vegetables to the bar that multiply in price once they enter the kitchen, Najeeb is a hot-headed cook who refuses to back down from a fight, and Sheikh Da'fous is one of many rich people from the Gulf region who benefited from the Lebanese civil war. In the end, Zakaria is given the option of working in the Gulf where he would earn a decent salary; he nevertheless refuses the offer claiming that he cannot live in the Gulf and leave his country (and Thorayya). As with all of Ziad Rahbani's plays, the ending here is somber and depressing; that is all I will reveal.