This is interesting work from Lebanon on an unusual subject--predominantly dealing with a well-heeled Christian man who employs a Muslim barber as a stand-in to replace his regular barber who has been hospitalized.
At the prima-facie level, the film provides humor for entertainment. The barber earns 10 times what he should be paid. This leads to avaricious dreams and silly banter about the USD 50 banknote. It also provides humor for the viewer as the barber gets terrified at the thought of losing the new-found benefactor/customer.
At another level, there is a stark contrast made by the film of the financial and social disparity between the two sets of clients of the barber.
Not to be missed is the passing comment on lottery tickets and the fast-track dreams to success.
The performance of the barber was noteworthy. The film was on show at the on-going International Film Festival of Kerala, India.
Cinematically the strengths of the film were limited to visualization of monetary dreams of the barber and an imaginary conversation between the rich Christian client and his dead wife. The film underlines the often-seen Lebanese fixation with economic issues that dominate daily lives of the common man in Beirut and social issues (new barber shops that open with untrained barbers, new flyovers and roads that get dug up soon after they are opened for traffic, etc.). The humor of these comments will be apparent to those who have visited Beirut recently.
All in all, an interesting and a very realistic short film.
