Film Review: “Longing Of The Laurel” - Jean K. Chamoun
“They say everything can be replaced, but there’s something in a person that can’t be replaced”.
So shared one of the painters rummaging in the rubble in Lebanese filmmaker Jean Chamoun’s latest documentary “Longing of the Laurel” recently released on DVD.
Chamoun’s take on the 2006 Lebanese-Israeli war focuses mainly on its aftermath, through the eyes of two women from south Lebanon: Khadija Herz, a member of the resistance and former Israeli prisoner, and Kheirat El Zein, a painter with a calling for helping the afflicted.
The weight of the film rests mainly on Khadija’s shoulders, as she takes us through the burial and mourning of her martyr son, her stories of Israeli imprisonment – complete with accounts of soldiers kicking her in the back so that she couldn’t “breed more dogs” – and her ongoing struggle to help the survivors rebuild with the very little they have left, against the backdrop of complete destruction.
Kheirat, however, falls behind with her contribution to both the story and her friend Khadija as she gives off a bland and unauthentic vibe. Being part of the underdeveloped sub-plot of ‘painting for war relief’ doesn’t help her input on the film either.
‘Longing’ is after all underlined as Khadija and the people who share her fate have no choice but to fight with the conviction that all blood shed for the land is but a blessing, while they long solely to reunite with the ones they lost.
Diane Farah
