All combatants lost in Lebanese civil war save for Ariel Sharon

BEIRUT - Kamal Sanjakdar 

A movie entitled The Labyrinth is the first Middle East-produced movie about the Lebanese war. The movie depicts two major chapters of the war namely the Israeli invasion in 1982 and the clashes that erupted between the Lebanese Forces and the Lebanese Army in the late eighties.

Written, produced and directed by Lorne Thyssen, the movie took five years of shooting and some twenty years of research and documentation in Lebanon.

The cast included a big number of famous actors from the Lebanese showbiz industry, performing the roles of major political figures such as former Lebanese presidents Beshir and Amin Gemayel, Lebanese Forces leaders Elie Hobeika and Samir Geagea and Syrian officers Mohammad Khawli and Said Bayrakdar.

Former Army Commander General Michel Aoun, Israeli officers and then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon were played by none-Lebanese actors. Famous Charles Dance plays the main character in the movie, a prominent English professor specializing in Middle-Eastern affairs, who decided to visit Beirut in 1982 after speculating a potential Israeli intervention.

The presence of those historical elements of the Lebanese war was a first for the Lebanese audience. Another innovation was the filming of combat scenes with bombardments, fighting, and explosions, using advanced techniques, special effects, sounds and a professional cast.

The scenes were also very realistic in their settings: the costumes, accessories and landscapes are very convincing. Historical details are also accurate such as the help provided to the Israelis by local informants and an undercover Israeli officer who pretended to be a homeless in the streets of Beirut.

Clearly pro-Lebanese in his stances, Thyssen, through his scenario, stated that a plot was drawn for the Lebanese people. The plot was mainly drawn by the Israeli former Defense Minister Sharon, who was shown as cruel and ruthless when dealing with his enemies or his subordinate officers.

In the final chapter of the war, the blood shed among “brothers” went on. Aoun, depicted as a patriot but shortsighted man, insists on attacking the Lebanese Forces, a step that would be the beginning of the end for both sides. In the end, Aoun was let down by the US and French governments and was finished by the Syrians.

The movie ended by showing the fate of those who participated in the war. Bashir Gemayel, Elie Hobeika and Dany Chamoun were assassinated, Michel Aoun and Amine Gemayel were exiled while Samir Geagea was serving a life sentence in prison.

Only Sharon, one of the main conspirers against Lebanon, pursued a successful political career and was elected Israeli Prime Minister in 2001.

As one of his characters put it, Thyssen concluded that the “conspiracy” made war in Lebanon “a labyrinth where the one who gets in cannot easily go out.”