Tramontane (2016)

Directed by: Vatche Boulghourjian | 105 minutes | drama | Actors: Michel Adabachi, Sajed Amer, Abido Bacha, Toufic Barakat, Georges Diab, Asraa a Drouba, Raymond Haddouni, Barakat Jabbour, Julia Kassar, Gaby Khalil, Nassim Khodr, Odette Makhlouf, Raymonde Saade Azar

A bloody civil war between different faiths raged in Lebanon from 1975 to 1990, which the country has never fully recovered from. There is no shared recent history, because a narrative has never been developed about the atrocities that took place, according to director Vatche Boulghourjian. Who was born in Kuwait himself, but counts Lebanon as his home. With his feature debut ‘Tramontane’, he says he wanted to start a critical discussion in Lebanon, among other things. To get people to face their past.

When blind musician Rabih (Barakat Jabbour) tries to obtain a passport to take his choir on a European tour, he discovers that his ID has been forged. His birth certificates are nowhere to be found, so a blood test should provide a solution. However, after some insistence, his mother Samar (Julia Kassar) confides in him that he has been adopted. But she cannot tell him exactly where Rabih was born and who his real parents are. Only that his uncle Hisham (Tufic Barakat) found him as a baby during his army days in one of the last years of the Civil War. To find out who he really is, Rabih sets out to unravel his past, and with it the past of his country.

He encounters conflicting stories about his uncle, but also about the place where he is said to have been found and the events that took place around his birth. The more people he speaks to, the clearer it becomes that people interpret their roles in and their memories of the Civil War as they see fit. For example, Rabih remains groping in the dark for a long time, but in the meantime the splendor of the country is brought into view through his travels. It turns out to be impossible to arrive at a conclusive story, and that is why it is somehow beautiful how Rabih eventually reconciles with his made-up past. As long as he can keep making music.

But somehow this choice also pinches. For someone who says he wants to spark a critical discussion, director Boulghourjian is very careful with political sensitivities. That Uncle Hisham has done unsavory things and did not ‘just find’ Rabih, seems beyond dispute. Yet there is hardly a confrontation between the two. In fact: Hisham may shed a tear at the end of the film to show that he really does have feelings. Furthermore, nowhere in the film is there any clear reference to which faith groups were after each other, let alone who adheres to which faith. Perhaps it is easy for Lebanese to find out, but that means that quite a bit of background knowledge is assumed to be known.

The playing of Julia Kassar, who clearly lets Samar struggle with the fact that she has never questioned Hisham’s stories, is strong, and of Barakat Jabbour, who portrays Rabih eagerly, but not too distraught. Jabbour was born blind and musician himself, so in a way you could say he plays himself. For a first film role, he does that damn well. The music is beautiful, but it is difficult for the uninitiated to say whether Rabih is still experiencing a certain growth. The film is a bit on the long side at 105 minutes, although the (distant) views remain fascinating. It’s a pity that Boulghourjian didn’t make sharper choices, but this debut is definitely a commendable first move.