Censorship madness!!

 

Sadly Heels of war is now banned in Lebanon

No one should describe Lebanon as a freedom of speech isle anymore. Once praised as a place of liberty, nowadays, it is becoming more oppressing than any neighboring regime. Today, Heels of war (aka. Tannoura Maxi) got banned in the Lebanese theaters. This sad event follows similar actions which recently prevented Beirut Hotel from being screened, and 33 Days to being rejected on a political background without any sense of reason in any decision (made by theaters owners or the censoring body).

Every Lebanese should voice his refusal against such madness. Everyone should have the right to freedom of expression. All these decisions will contribute to only one thing: shape the Lebanese opinion into becoming more close-minded, therefore, eroding the movie industry that just started to bloom only now. All artists are invited to react sharply against the new oppression rules from gaining more ground and put stop to such insanity.

It is worth-noting that  gulf countries are now more freedom-prone than Lebanon. Films like Beirut Hotel and Heels of war were screened and praised in gulf countries, but rejected in Lebanon.

Update: The movie is now back in theaters, probably after complying to the censorship conditions.

Scrapbook

Trailer for Yamo which will be screened starting June 14

For all Lebanese movies fans, Metropolis is dedicating a Month of Lebanese Cinema, the collection varies from documentaries to fictions. All interested people are invited to watch the movies that match their taste.

Among the notable features, Yamo and OK, enough, goodbye whose screening will start on June 14.

Heels of War - تنورة ماكسي

Trailer for "Heels of War"

The long-term project by Joe Bou-Eid finally released into theaters. This movie is full of sensations and temptations. The viewer will enjoy the well tailored romance and the different aspects that helped its creation. Most notably is the charming Joy Karam whose voice was never heard, but her distinguished performance was remarkably attractive to the eye and heart. The plot is  to be a romance story paved with difficulties related to war and religious career, based on the director's parents biography. While the movie is poor on conversations, the Caramelish colored scenes are telling the story smoothly and in an elegant style most of the times accompanied with an amusing western original score. One should note that, if we discard the fact that the title is shown in French and the inconsistently chosen English language for the commentary, the movie lost his Lebanese identity as the supposedly Lebanese village rarely shows Lebanese traditions and most of the time, the customs can be confused with European villages and not from the Levant (e.g. bathtub outside?). Among other annoying details, the lighting is sometimes excessively misused (e.g. inside the room, light is spotted on the face of the retarded sister makes it completely fake and unnecessary). Despite these few issues (reminder: first feature by Joe), all are encouraged to degust this sensual piece of art.

Update: The movie was withdrawn from Lebanese theaters due to church intervention.