Welcome to Beirut

I remember back in the ‘80s before being overshadowed by Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, the hotbed of instability in the Middle East was virtually synonymous with Lebanon, a tiny nation smaller than the state of Connecticut bordered by Israel from the south and Syria from the east.  With a population comprising of various religious and ethnic factions including Christians, Muslims (both sunni and shia) and a group calling itself the “Druze,”  Lebanon was wracked (and wrecked) by 15 years of tumultuous civil war from 1975 to 1990, with outside geopolitical players getting involved such as neighboring Israel and Syria.  International peacekeeping efforts have also taken a high toll in blood, such as the Marine barracks bombing in 1983 which claimed the lives of 241 marines and 58 French servicemen.  Okay, that’s enough lecturing.

Jason Bourne scribe and producer Tony Gilroy attempts to capture the despair and chaos of Lebanon on the big screen in his latest thriller (though Brad Anderson’s the director it’s Gilroy’s movie) ‘Beirut,’ starring Mad Man Jon Hamm and the always welcome Rosamund Pike.  A deeply human story, ‘Beirut’ is the tale of the fall and redemption of Hamm’s character, a former diplomat and negotiator who left Lebanon in the wake of a personal tragedy, only to return 10 years later to aid the CIA in the recovery of a former colleague and friend.

Tightly plotted, briskly paced and grippingly realistic (when the explosion occurred at the hotel where he gave a speech I almost fell out of my comfy AMC chair), ‘Beirut’ gives us an unflinching snapshot of Beirut in all its unbridled hopelessness.  It is timely as we’re witnessing today an even greater tragedy unfolding in Syria and to a lesser extent Afghanistan, and should serve as a cautionary tale against poking our noses where they really don't belong.

Grade: B+

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