Film: 12 Angry Lebanese: The Documentary
Running time: 78 mins
Director: Zeina Daccache
Starring: N/a
Genre: Documentary
Country: Lebanon
This film will be screened at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, which takes place in London between 23rd March and 1st April, 2011. Find out more about this event by clicking here.
This is a new and completely unique take on Reginald Rumet’s original play 12 Angry Men, made famous by the film of the same name starring Henry Fonda. In this production however, the stakes are much higher – it may just be the salvation of the real-life angry men taking on the roles.
Forty-five male criminals, serving long sentences in prison for crimes such as drug trafficking, rape and murder, have no hope for their future. They do not feel that they can ever succeed in anything other than crime. Zeina Daccache, a filmmaker, director and writer, is the woman who believes she can change this. By turns charismatic, energetic and furious, she takes the prison by storm and leaves the prisoners in awe of her. They even nickname her ‘Abu Ali’ because of her ability to terrify them into submission.
Fifteen months later, this group of hardened criminals are in dress rehearsal for this play about the justice system. Not only have they learned how to act, looking for all the world like members of a jury, they have taken ownership of the script and added their own touches, including music and dance routines. They have discovered musicians, composers, dancers and choreographers in their group. Each man has found a passion for the performing arts he never knew existed. Zeina has coached and nurtured them all to this point, using a mixture of tuition, therapy and tough love. Each of the main actors – the 12 Angry Lebanese – have a chance to tell their own story during interviews with Daccache and these are interwoven to the footage of rehearsals.
The cast go through the usual ups and downs involved with putting on a play: the pressure to learn lines, committing to the rehearsal schedule and stage fright, but they are also unexpectedly rediscovering who they are as human beings, rather than just inmates of a prison…
From the opening shots, revealing the inside and outside of a Lebanese prison, it quickly becomes clear that this is not your average documentary. It is an extraordinary insight into life behind bars. It does not present the prisoners as either villains or victims, but it does offer them a voice.
The interviews with the actors/prisoners are a stroke of genius, explaining how and why each of the twelve men took part in the project. Zeina herself does not explain anything, she allows the men to tell it their way. This is very effective because it means the audience can engage directly with the men rather than being distanced by an intermediary - and the opening up of dialogue between prisoners and civilians is part of what the project is all about.
Zeina is an incredible teacher who is able to let go of her project and give it to her protégées; by staying somewhat in the background, she allows the documentary to really become the story of the 12 Angry Lebanese. Yet in her total lack of need for the limelight, she actually establishes herself as the central figure holding together this unruly group. She is a powerhouse of a woman who is not afraid to confront these men and let them know when she is angry. She does not give them any special treatment and expects nothing less than a professional performance. The film makes no big deal of her role and what she is taking on, because she also wrote and directed it. However, taking her own achievements for granted serves to make them all the more remarkable for the viewer.
The footage has been chosen and edited carefully to give us a rounded picture of the inmates, the performance and the significance it has for those taking part. It is by no means sentimentalised; that simply would not have worked in this film. Instead, it presents a very honest portrait of men who are paying the price for their crimes, but who are being offered some kind of redemption, however small and fleeting. This actually makes it all the more powerful when the men admit to crying in the toilets, feeling sick with nerves and the newfound pride they have – their frank admissions make it clear to the viewer that the project has had a profound and positive effect on the prisoners in a way that an indirect description never could.
The soundtrack to the film is provided by the music composed and performed by the inmates. It is by no means amateurish; it fits the documentary perfectly and showcases talents that a few months ago even the musicians themselves had forgotten or did not know they possessed. The whole thing comes together to create a powerful demonstration of what can happen when people are given a second chance. Rather than leaving these men simply condemned and allowing them to wallow in anger, they have been given a voice which allows them to recognise and accept their feelings. It is perhaps a deliberately ironic twist that the play they are performing is all about judging somebody and deciding on his fate when the viewer is asked only to listen to the prisoners and not judge them in any way. The play was clearly chosen to get the prisoners to think about trial and retribution, but this dual layer also has the same effect on the audience. What comes across through all of this is that Zeina Daccache has astounding vision which she has executed with great aplomb, both in her work at the prison and in this documentary.
Incisive and startling, 12 Angry Lebanese is a tour de force which confronts its audience honestly and openly. It is compelling viewing. KS
No comments:
Post a Comment