In the popular Western imagination, Lebanon is most often referred to as a place of ruin and conflict, not romance or enchantment. Filmmaker Chloe Mazuro’s debut film, Skies of Lebanon, is, above all, a fascinating swing of the portrayal pendulum.
The film, starring Italian actress Alba Lorvacher, begins in 1977 when her character Alice leaves the country. On her ship, she begins writing letters. At the beginning of many visual surprises, the film switches mode to stop-motion animation as Alice talks about her childhood in the repressive 1950s in Switzerland. After training to become an au pair, she takes on a mission to Beirut as far away from her home as possible.
The capital of Lebanon is depicted in a diorama-like frame with a vintage photo in the background. The effect is a storybook. So is the story for a while. Every day, Alice takes her toddler’s charge to a small cafe, where she meets Joseph (Wazidi Muawad), a fascinating rocket engineer she falls in love with and gets married.
Their life is beautiful for a while. Alice’s extended family is fun, and the couple’s daughter, Mona, is sensitive and talented. The treatment of civil war films that tear Lebanon and eventually shatter Alice’s world is mixed. The depiction of an ordinary person trying to protect himself from a civil conflict (for example, a scene where a slumber party is interrupted by an air raid) is clear. Showing the fighting faction as two little gangsters on the street corner — divided by sandbag piles, fighters wearing masks and, in some cases, feather scarves — can be daunting. But the generosity of the movie ultimately wins the day.
Lebanon sky
Unrated. In French, with subtitles. Execution time: 1 hour 32 minutes. In the theater.
