Perspectives
Dir. Mounir Maasri


Any director is flattered when he turns out to be a prophet. At a meeting some two years ago a young filmmaker was passionately insisting that the scenes with “bad cops” had been shot in that very precinct which later became notorious because of the major Yevsyukov’s case. He lamented that they had cut out the sign-boards. If that is the case, then Mounir Maasri can smile modestly without having to prove anything to anybody. His movie about revolutionary unrest in the Middle East (events in Lebanon ten years ago) was released perfectly on time. Including “direct hits”: Syria is the hot news and in “Huvelin Street” the group of merry students fight the army of that country…

There is no need to go into the subtleties of Middle-eastern history (who occupied whom and why and what is the pretext for the presence of foreign troops in the country) to understand the restlessness of these youngsters for whom their not too secret activities in the underground student organization as merely part of their tumultuous, risky youth, their robust life. That is what is so charming about all their gatherings, get-togethers with girls and guitars and heated arguments about the best way to oppose the military: by surprise or silently with stickers saying “Freedom” covering their mouths. The night before the final face-down these nice guys boisterously smoke at the poker table and ask each other what is going to happen the next day. The metaphor for the message of the movie (or at least one of the messages) could be the scene in which Joy, a dark-haired revolutionary, can barely drag the heavy suitcase into his room in the hostel. “Flags? Leaflets?” demands the strict janitor. Somehow Joy manages to persuade him that it is only summer clothes. Anything could be expected, even weapons, but instead a girl jumps out of the suitcase in the room. It can’t be helped. In Russian just like in Lebanon, guards in hostels are especially strict about the morals of the students.

This does not invalidate their sincere hatred of the occupants. In general where there is public spirit, the youthful student racket becomes more meaningful. The youngsters are so passionately running about the night campus, hiding Lebanese flags in the bushes. How enthusiastically they meet an American journalist in a café: they seem to be saying very bold things, but at the same time are fearful lest it all should appear in the news.

But the principal plotline seems a bit artificial. Ives, an incipient journalist, is happy to have acquired a new camera and can now shoot everything during their gatherings. But the sudden (!) realization of how misery his salary is, forces him to sell the most explosive shots to the newspaper… It is hard do say why he opens the Pandora box: the driving forces, the conditions, the conflict are – to put it bluntly – a far cry form the “Ascent” by Larisa Shepitko. But there is a certain fundamental truth. It is felt in the demands of friends that Ives, a creative personality, should fight almost with an automatic gun, but he is not at all happy about the idea that word should be equaled to bayonet. It probably is no accident that in one of the scenes the director makes Ives sit next to Che Gevara’s portrait. The haircut, the beard, the moustache are all exact copies of those in the picture. This is the message: don’t put pressure on a creative personality, he will definitely sell everybody out.

Igor Saveliev