Master Rank #442

West Beirut

1998

GCML Total8.5640% Greatness · 40% Engagement · 20% Ease

Directed by Ziad Doueiri

CastRami Doueiri · Mohamad Chamas · Rola Al Amin

LebanonArabic / FrenchDrama / Comedy105 minNot Rated
GCML CuratedNarrative FeatureModerate pace
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

Three teenagers explore a divided Beirut as civil war begins reshaping their city and families.

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In 1975, teenagers Tarek, Omar, and May roam West Beirut after civil war divides the city along the Green Line and closes their French school. Super 8 filmmaking, family tensions, checkpoints, and neighborhood exploration turn adolescence into a record of fracture.

Why it belongs

West Beirut filters civil war through teenage curiosity, Super 8 play, friendship, and a city whose familiar routes become borders.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

The young ensemble preserves humor and desire without insulating itself from mounting division. Film cartridges, rooftops, scooters, barricades, schoolyards, electricity cuts, and changing family rooms let conflict enter daily geography.

Major award wins

No verified wins in this six-institution crosswalk.

Awards are reference metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20

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