You are here:

Maroun Returns to Beirut

Name: Maroun Returns to Beirut
Director: Feyrouz Serhal
Released: 2024
Duration: 125 min

Representation Score

6.8/10

Good

2024

Director

Feyrouz Serhal

Runtime

125 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Maroun Returns to Beirut serves as a vital act of cultural reclamation. By centering the life of Maroun Baghdadi, the film uses a localized biography to critique broader geopolitical structures and the impact of the Lebanese Civil War. The documentary successfully shifts the perspective of war history through a female-led investigation. This approach challenges Western-centric historical clichés and provides a significant role in driving the story to Middle Eastern subjects and their specific cultural narratives. While the film excels in ethnic and cultural representation, it lacks explicit evidence regarding LGBTQ+ or disability representation. However, its focus on complex sociopolitical identities provides a strong foundation for nuanced storytelling.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Maroun Returns to Beirut have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film explores identity within Lebanon's complex sociopolitical landscape. While specific LGBTQ+ identities are not explicitly detailed, the narrative allows for nuanced personal histories.

How does Maroun Returns to Beirut portray gender?

Good

Director Feyrouz Serhal provides a female perspective to reconstruct a male filmmaker's legacy. This approach challenges traditional patriarchal methods by placing a woman as the investigative protagonist.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Maroun Returns to Beirut?

Excellent

The documentary centers on Lebanese identity and the region's historical complexities. It disrupts Anglo-centric perspectives by prioritizing a Middle Eastern lens to discuss ability to act and systemic conflict.

How does Maroun Returns to Beirut represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film critiques traditional power structures and Western-influenced political systems in the Middle East. It uses cinema to deconstruct nationalistic myths and examine how official histories are constructed.

Does Maroun Returns to Beirut include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no specific evidence regarding the portrayal of physical or neurodivergent disabilities within the film.

Present on Screen

Provides a strong Middle Eastern lens that disrupts Western-centric historical narratives.
Utilizes a female perspective to reconstruct and curate a male filmmaker's legacy.
Offers deep cultural ability to act by centering Lebanese identity and local history.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit evidence regarding the representation of LGBTQ+ identities.
Provides no specific information regarding the portrayal of physical or neurodivergent disabilities.

Official Synopsis

2023 marked the thirtieth anniversary of Maroun Baghdadi’s sudden and tragic death. Maroun was a Lebanese filmmaker who wrote and directed films during the Lebanese civil war and contributed to documentary and fiction filmmaking from 1973 up until his death in 1993. In this film, Feyrouz Serhal embarks on a day trip in Beirut and navigates the city that profoundly shaped Maroun’s journey in life and cinema. Here she encounters individuals who were close to him and who shared his experiences. And as she traverses Maroun’s life and career, the social and political backdrop moves to the foreground. The film reflects on the last fifty years of the history of the country from a present standpoint. Through Maroun’s story, we perceive how cinema can, beautifully and dramatically, portray our stories and discourse our life events..

How are these scores produced? →