The fourth BBC Arab Festival will see the UK premiere of Those Who Remain. This is a documentary from esteemed, Lebanese female documentary maker Eliane Raheb. Those Who Remain tells the story of a Maronite Christian farmer, Haykal Mikhael, based in Akkar, Northern Lebanon, who struggles to build his family home whilst also dealing with sectarian Lebanese tensions and the constant threat of the war in Syria escalating and spreading to Lebanon.
As with most of the programming of the BBC Arab Festival, we get to hear the voices of those who are living through the wars and conflicts, in their own words. Those Who Remain is all the more powerful because it allows us to see, hear and feel what Haykal experiences not just whilst he is being filmed but, through his words, we can imagine what his life was like before. Part of you cannot help but wonder whilst watching this documentary why a man clearly highly educated didn’t just leave Lebanon. However, the counter-argument is examined in Those Who Remain, why should he leave and give up everything. Although, arguably he has lost two of the most important things in his life already: his wife and children. His wife left because she didn’t share his resilience. He never seeks pity and neither is he verbose. Haykal is thoughtful, kind and solid and not only does he get to tell his story he also chooses the title.
Eliane’s documentary style is sensitive but also investigative. She isn’t just happy to accept what she is told and so Those Who Remain takes on wider issues without engulfing or diverting from the central subject matter, Haykal. When she mentions the terrorists in Syria to the sister of the Muslim women who works in Haykal’s restaurant, she replies let’s talk about people that actually matter. It’s as if in speaking about the terrorists in Syria gives them undue importance.
It is both a poignant and powerful documentary. Here is a man who laments for the past but is keenly aware of how he lives now. Haykal’s story, especially watching him carry rocks to build his house, is also a metaphor of what Lebanon has become; sectarian disputes, minorities trying to survive in a hostile environment, people fighting over land that no one actually has a lawful claim over. Put simply, everything in modern day Lebanon is a struggle especially for the minorities that live there.
This is a must-see documentary. We often wonder about those who remain and, now you will get to hear why and how they live.
Those Who Remain’s UK premiere is on Monday 23 April, 7.30pm + Dir Q&A.
The 4th BBC Arab Festival runs from Friday 20 April until Thursday 26 April and is free, apply for tickets.
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