Out of Life (1991) - Maroun Bagdadi

Maroun Bagdadi's Out of Life is a searing evocation on the Lebanese civil war that manages to deliver a stirring message about the intrinsic inequalities of both individual and collective autonomy through its contextualization of identity in an increasingly transnational world.  Out of Life is a harrowing ordeal that will surely linger in my mind long after the initial experience, and perhaps a major component of this film is merely creating a platform to educate the outside world through cinema to the complexities and horrors of the Lebanese Civil War. From the onset, immersion into this spatial reality of a war-torn Lebanon is Bagdadi's primary focus, showing no reservations in regards to providing a true glimpse into the abject depravity of human conflict.  Subtle in its thematic intentions, at least in the beginning, the film's chaotic structure aims to confuse and restrict the viewer's understanding of the narrative events.  It's an effective strategy, one which entices the viewer to seek understanding while simultaneously recognizing the sheer complexities of the conflict. The film's raw depiction and formal arrangements associated with elucidating the labyrinths and entanglements of the civil war are exceptionally rendered.  There is a repetition between interiority and exteriority:  Restrictive interiors of darkness and solitude of our vessel (a kidnapped french war photographer) are beautifully juxtaposed with exteriors that offer a glimpse of social normalcy, ones which often include the Lebonese freedom-fighters in familial arrangements.  it's a constant reminder of their humanity, and the pov of this story being from the perspective of the kidnapped not kidnappers.  Intentionally indecipherable narratively for much of its runtime, Out of the Life intentionally eschews any notion of stability or perspective of authority, a narrative device but also one of allegory in exhibiting the milieu of the civil war itself.  In the film's denouement, Out of Life comes into piercing focus. For our main protagonist - the french war photographer - he has returned to normalcy but for those back in Lebanon, there is no such return, their lives are in a perpetual state of violence that is inescapable and deeply tragic.