Volker Schlöndorff, famous german director who won the foreign language- oscar for "Die Blechtrommel", here presents a picture about a journalist doing a reportage in Beirut during the riots between Christians and Moslems. Georg Laschen, a german journalist, travels to Beirut for seeing things and making a great story out of it. He leaves behind his marriage, which is in a crisis, but can not completely forget about it. So he finds himself always split between cruelty and war in Beirut and the things in Germany that need to be soluted. The director did a brilliant job. Accompanied by some very great actors and actresses, the whole film is very true to life. War is shown in all it's cruelty, but without the need of showing too explicite violence. The film does not transport a one-and-only message that he tries to confirm, but presents the viewer a very complex movie, a film who needs viewers that are willing to think. Contributing to this effect is the fact that the film is done in different languages. While German is the "basic", the actors speak to different persons in different languages (English, French, Arab). Overall, a brilliant film. Not for popcorn, maybe, but definitely very worth seeing.
