Under the Bombs by Philippe Aractingi - Movie Review Example

The paper "Under the Bombs by Philippe Aractingi" is an exceptional example of a movie review on visual arts and film studies. Under the Bombs is a Lebanese drama film, which takes 98 minutes and is set in Lebanon almost at the end of Lebanon war in 2006. Philippe Aractingi directs it. Michael Leviat and Philippe Aractingi wrote the movie. Rene Aubry (Lazare Boghossian) does music. It is distributed by Lions Gate Films in the U.S. Its cinematography is done by Nidal Abdel Khalek and was released on 2 September and 13 December 2007.

It mostly uses Arabic and French language. This movie mirrors the situation of many countries in the world. This may include displaced and dead civilians; examples are Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Lebanon. This war is because of devastations in finance and economy in general(Aractingi, 2007). Summary of the Plot Under the Bomb is a title well chosen since it views Zeina in an effort to look for her son under chaotic war situations filled with bombings and mass deaths. This is a unique movie, which revolves under two main characters, Zeina and Tony (Georges Khabbaz).

The movie concentrates on Zeina who is assisted by Tony, a taxi driver, to search for her lost son in southern Lebanon in Kherbet Selem village. This war occurs at a time when Zeina is undergoing a divorce process with her unfaithful husband. Zeina decides to locate her way through Beirut port in the middle of the war, despite the sounds of shouts, cries, and burials from southern Lebanon (Aractingi, 2007). Zeina being a wealthy Muslim grew up in Lebanon and had been living with her husband and son, Karim.

She is a beautiful well-heeled woman dressed in a chic, cleavage-revealing blue dress. She decides to hide her six-year-old son in her aunt’s place located at Sherbet Selem village south of Lebanon. This was to prevent him from seeing her parents separate and go through the divorce process. The reality of cries, explosions, anger and ruined houses, burials and destroyed bridges in the ravaged and beautiful Lebanon country provoked him to search for her son (Aractingi, 2007). Zeina ponders which route to take to reach her sister’s village cafe.

The only route that she would use was through Turkey, but she wishes to follow the Beirut port, which was hindered by a blockade. All taxi drivers are now filled with fear and doubts and are unwilling to offer transport due to the dangerous circumstances in southern Lebanon. Destruction of people’s property, mass deaths, and burials are the main occurrences in this movie. This awful situation could not allow coward drivers to offer Zeina transport. The only amiable cabbie driver is Tony who sympathizes with the desperate mother and offers her a ride.

Zeina hires Tony who is a Christian taxi driver to drive her to the port of Beirut in an attempt to search for her missing son and sister in the middle of the war. On a cease-fire day, she arrived in Kherbet Selem village where her sister lived. A small boy informs her that her sister was killed and the journalists have taken Karim, her son away. The search for her son in the war-stricken southern Lebanon is a great struggle. The site of many war victims, bombed buildings, destroyed bridges, and highways, peacekeeping forces, performing journalists, and Hezbollah rally describes the awful scene of war.

All characters in this movie, such as Zeina and Tony, are believable since they are acting in real-life situations. An example is where Zeina shouts out “Haidi mish” to declare that that was not her war. The actors are properly cast since the war breaks out when Zeina’s son is in the country where the war began. This assists the viewer to have the real picture of the war and the ongoing destructions. Tony, the taxi driver, is well stationed and performs effectively. This is because he is present when Zeina is looking for transport and is the only one who volunteers to transport him to the site of the war to search for his son.

Tony is first featured being in graphic sex with Rawyal El Chab (receptionist) and secondly when he is performing a mating dance with Zeina (Aractingi, 2007). The theme of the film is war since there are so many deaths and destruction of people’s property. The geographical setting is appropriate since there is a Beirut port instead of following the route to Turkey, which would be more dangerous. Movie editor, soundtrack, music, cameras, and cinematology are effective since they are properly positioned to tap the shouts, cries, explosions, bombings, burials, falling bridges, and expressions of anger in the movie.

Conclusion This movie symbolizes a complete defeat of the spirit of human beings in countries that have war. It shows the effects of war such as destruction and deaths and probably changes the attitude of countries that are addicted to war and greed. The intended audience of this movie is the schools, militarists, and other war groups. Availing these groups with this movie would help them take a different position on war and contribute more peace in many countries of the world. Moral message sent by this film is that war should be avoided since it has many destructive effects.