TERRA INCOGNITA

Lebanon, 2002, 120 minutes, Colour.
Karol Aboud, Abla Khoury, Walid Sadek.
Directed by Gassan Salhab.

Terra Incognita is a film about Lebanon, directed by Gassan Salhab who grew up in Senegal and returned to Lebanon at the age of 17. He experienced the war, went to France, began to make films and decided that he could make a film only based on his own experience in Lebanon.

1. The impact of the war on Lebanon? Its long duration, the destruction? The incursions by Israel and the bombings in South Lebanon? The context for the characters?

2. The use of the city, as part of the atmosphere, even a character? The landscapes of Lebanon, of northern Israel? The ruins and their being symbolic of Lebanon's long past? The ruined cities of the present and the need for a new building of Lebanon? The musical score, the songs inserted throughout the film? The music at the wedding?
3. Characters within this context? Their age, experience, work? Influenced by the war and its aftermath? Their searching? Their uncertainties?

4. Soraya and her work as a guide, the tourists, her relationships, her friendships, the wedding, the guiding the tourists in northern Israel? Her being pursued, her being assaulted - the final close-up of her bruised face?

5. Leyla and her withdrawing from people, her uncertain reflections, her questions? Her relationship with Soraya? With the men?

6. The men, working on computers and rebuilding the city - but not good on relationships? The man coming from Senegal and trying to settle in Lebanon? The bridegroom?

7. The wedding sequence, the preparations, the arrival of the guests, the talk, the ceremonies, the singing?

8. The long journey and pursuit of Soraya to Israel? The streets, the roads, the mountains, the border? The ruins? The assault and the ending?

9. The audience immersed in the film as observers of place and character rather than following a story and its emotional impact?