All This Victory (2019)

Director: Ahmad Ghossein
Stars: Flavia Bechara, Issam Bou Khaled, Adel Chahine
Runtime: 93 minutes

Synopsis: Lebanon, July 2006. War is raging between Hezbollah and Israel. During a 24h ceasefire, Marwan heads out in search of his father who refused to leave his Southern village and leaves his wife Rana preparing alone their immigration to Canada. Marwan finds no traces of his father and the ceasefire is quickly broken, forcing him to take shelter in Najib's house, his father's friend. Marwan finds himself trapped under the rain of bombs with Najib and a group of elders, friends of his father. Tension rises inside and outside of the house. Suddenly, a group of Israeli soldiers enters the first floor. The next three days see the situation spiral out of control.

Verdict: I was only 11 years old when the 2006 Lebanon War (or July War) took place. I still vividly remember climbing to the roof of the building in which I used to live in and witness Israeli fighters drop bombs on Beirut. I was too young to comprehend what was happening and fled the country with my family the very next year as a result of the conflict only to return in 2009, still unaware of how lucky I was to be living far from the targetted zones at the time.

One thing "All This Victory" does successfully is put you in the shoes of the civilians who were directly affected by the war. Taking place almost entirely in a house in Southern Lebanon, it follows a group of people who found themselves trapped as Israeli soldiers invaded the apartment above them. It's an impressive shoot with great sound design that, despite appearing slightly political on the surface, managed to constantly remind us that it was an anti-war film before anything else. However, the slow pacing of the narrative turned out to be a burden as I found the characters to lack proper development. They felt like strangers, which in the context of the story didn't help me feel like I was with them. The emotion wasn't entirely there either, and the acting could've used some twitching in some scenes.

"All This Victory" exceeded my expectations and yet I was underwhelmed by the final product. It's a mature take on an event that is barely depicted in the world of Cinema, but, unfortunately, I couldn't be quite as pulled in as I wanted to be.

FINAL GRADE: 6/10