Simon El Habre/ Lebanon 2008/ 86 min/ 12A /Arabic with English subtitles

“What is there in the city other than crowdedness and pollution?” a thought that Semaan El Habre explains to his nephew and newbie director Simon El Habre as he sucks on his cigarette. It’s easy to understand this point of view when you gaze onto the surrounding hills, the animals and the “peace and quiet” Semaan reveals in. But as the camera turns its gaze to the cracked roads and half demolished buildings you see through the sea of smoke and coffee into a village devastated by war.

A complex and intriguing film that questions more than just the nature of village life

Following the day-to-day rituals of aging Semaan in his Lebanese mountain village, the film skirts from intimate moments between Semaan and his beloved cows and horses to providing some kind of oral history to the devastation the land has suffered in the form of interviews with villagers who have been displaced. We’re told the 45 families of this humble mountain village faced three months under fire from the socialists until they evacuated to Beirut or other places near by. But the anger is clearly directed at the Israelis who commanded them.

Semaan’s cheeky grin, preened moustache and infectious laugh would be enough to make this film an excellent portrait of a single man’s struggle against the past. But Simon pushes the picture further and with a background of excellently judged sparse percussion, the generational schisms and increasing individualism that threatens villages across the world comes to the fore. With a distinctly fresh vibe, Simon manages to present the view of this dilapidated world from the eyes of a city-slicker with a wife and home, Semaan even points out “you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t doing this film”. But the fact he is there and the fact this is a deeply satisfying watch tells us something bigger about what it is to be human. Alone in his one man village, Semaan doesn’t look sad, lonely or regretful, he is doing exactly what we would if we could let go of Western ideals, he is living with the earth by his own clock: “We put ourselves in this land, we loved it like we love our children”. A complex and intriguing film that questions more than just the nature of village life, it investigates the core of humanity itself.

One Man Village showing @Filmhouse at 18:oo on 16th Feb

View trailer here