Another documentary I was waiting for a week and finally watched in Mosaic Rooms...
The director of the movie, Simon El Habre, made a film about Semaan - the only one inhabitant in the small village of Ain al-Halazoun in the Lebanese mountains.
The place was completely destroyed and abandoned by its inhabitants during the civil war in Lebanon between 1975 and 1990.
People left the village but they didn’t forget it. Nowadays they regularly come to the land they were born and grew up, to cultivate their plot of soil and visit the remains of their houses. The old villagers do remember pre-war times but when it comes to the war itself they prefer not to talk about it and it seems they barely being able to recall the events.
The movie provokes different feelings… Absolute sorrow about the consequences of the war, wiping out an entire village, separating families…Lebanese people still remaining vulnerable to a new civil war. It also shows the importance of the memories, family unity and how less we need in order to be happy sometimes.
Talking about my personal impression, yes, the movie illustrates how the war affected people, their minds, and their present lives, but it is also give an idea about the modern values.
“Yesterday a child was eating from the same plate with his parents, and was happy to share. That was a loving family environment back to those days. Today 3 year old doesn’t want to share anymore; he wants to have his own plate, fork, spoon and knife.”
As one of the former inhabitants of the village says “new generation is not attached to the place. As soon as the last of us die the village will die itself.”
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