ANOTHER BIRTH

Iran, 2008, 92 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Abbas Rafeyi.

Another Birth is a Lebanese -Iranian co-production filmed in Lebanon soon after the attack by Israel in 2006. It is a journey of search by a sailor who tries to find out where his pregnant wife has been evacuated to. This means that he arrives in Beirut and travels over the south, discovering the devastation of the war – and it is visualised for audiences to see and gauge the severity of the loss of life and the overall damage.

A similar theme is found in Sous Les Bombes, also filmed in war-ravaged Lebanon at this time.

1.The Lebanese background? Iranian perspective? The war, Hezbollah, Israel? The ordinary citizens caught up in these wars?

2.The location photography, Lebanon in the south, the towns, the destruction, the desert, the musical score?

3.The focus on the theme of birth?

4.The ship, at sea, Zoheir, talking to the old sailor, discussing marriage, love, pregnancy? Interview with the captain? The decision that he go to find his wife?

5.The journey to find his wife, on the small boat, driving, the phone calls, buying the car, driving through the countryside, escaping the bombs, the ruins and destruction, his house, his wife gone, seeing his brother-in-law?

6.The brother-in-law, the news, his mission, the bag, driving with Zoheir, the explosions, contacting his lead, finding him dead, continuing to go to his mission, the exploding car, his own death?

7.The intersection with the scenes with the wife, the hospital, the bombings, the nurses hurrying with the babies, the risk of losing their identities? The nurse and her concern, the pregnant wife, the refuge, the blood on the nurse’s uniform, the chaos, the injuries?

8.Zoheir, continuing the mission for his brother-in-law, carrying the bag, looking at its contents, puzzling about the purpose? The crashing of the car for the diversion and to distract the Israeli planes?

9.The TV news, Israel, the reference to Zionists, the planes continually going over, the bombardments, the tracking devices?

10.The birth, Zoheir sending in the ring to his wife, the joy at the new child?

11.Lebanon and its suffering during the war, the possibility of new birth and hope?