Under the Bombs by Philippe Aractingi: Analysis

Under the Bombs As my first extra credit assignment I had the opportunity to watch “Under the Bombs”, directed by Philippe Aractingi. The movie became available to the public in 2007, embodying some of the events of the 2006 Lebanon War. The main character of the movie is a wealthy Lebanese Muslim by the name of Zeina Nasrueddi. Although she is from Lebanon, she lives in Dubai with her husband and son Karim. Due to complications within their marriage, Zeina and her husband send their son to stay with her sister in Lebanon. Not too long after, Zeina hears about the outbreak of the war, she rushes to Lebanon to find her son. When she gets there, she finds the area and all of its buildings destroyed. While searching for her son she gains information on his whereabouts. The information sends her on a journey with a Lebanese taxi driver in search of her son. When she finally arrives at her son’s stated location, she finds only her son’s friend who explains to Zeina that Karim is dead. The plot of the movie was very riveting and action-packed. There are many ups and downs throughout the storyline, keeping the viewer intrigued and reeled in. Although the movie wasn’t directed at religion specifically, I was able to view a couple of the Lebanese traditions. Some of the traditions I picked up on were the attire and dances. The taxi driver was Christian so I would have to assume that the dance he conducted in the movie was one of Lebanese tradition and not Muslim. The dance was his attempt of lightening the mood for the very tense and worried Zeina. As far as the attire goes, the women wore long dresses, only revealing their face. This form of attire is very closely related to the Muslim tradition. Although the ending was rather sad, the movie was great in