{"id":315953,"date":"2021-08-05T20:15:19","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T17:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/watch-the-river-review-lebanons-existential-pain-expressed-as-metaphor\/"},"modified":"2021-08-05T20:15:19","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T17:15:19","slug":"watch-the-river-review-lebanons-existential-pain-expressed-as-metaphor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-the-river-review-lebanons-existential-pain-expressed-as-metaphor\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch &#8216;The River&#8217; Review: Lebanon&#8217;s Existential Pain Expressed as Metaphor"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3f3f2f4e825\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3f3f2f4e825\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-the-river-review-lebanons-existential-pain-expressed-as-metaphor\/#%E2%80%9CWatch_Online_%E2%80%98The_River_Review_Lebanons_Existential_Pain_Expressed_as_Metaphor%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Watch Online &#8216;The River&#8217; Review: Lebanon&#8217;s Existential Pain Expressed as Metaphor&#8221;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-the-river-review-lebanons-existential-pain-expressed-as-metaphor\/#%E2%80%9C%E2%80%98The_River_Review_Lebanons_Existential_Pain_Expressed_as_Metaphor%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;&#8216;The River&#8217; Review: Lebanon&#8217;s Existential Pain Expressed as Metaphor&#8221;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-the-river-review-lebanons-existential-pain-expressed-as-metaphor\/#optional_screen_reader\" >optional screen reader<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-the-river-review-lebanons-existential-pain-expressed-as-metaphor\/#Read_More_About\" >Read More About:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CWatch_Online_%E2%80%98The_River_Review_Lebanons_Existential_Pain_Expressed_as_Metaphor%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Watch Online &#8216;The River&#8217; Review: Lebanon&#8217;s Existential Pain Expressed as Metaphor&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9C%E2%80%98The_River_Review_Lebanons_Existential_Pain_Expressed_as_Metaphor%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;&#8216;The River&#8217; Review: Lebanon&#8217;s Existential Pain Expressed as Metaphor&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div>\n                        Lebanon\u2019s leading avant-garde filmmaker Ghassan Salhab has always been unapologetically art house, scraping away at traditional forms of narrative to create elliptical works reliant on unfussy compositions and layered sound design. His films explore liminal emotional states connected with Lebanon\u2019s troubled history, capturing a sense of disturbance that practically quivers with unexpressed tension. His latest, \u201cThe River,\u201d concludes a trilogy consisting of \u201cThe Mountain\u201d and \u201cThe Valley,\u201d and while it\u2019s his most objectively beautiful feature yet, it also gives nothing away, demanding a heightened engagement with both his artful mise-en-sc\u00e8ne and his nation\u2019s psychological state. As such, \u201cThe River\u201d will meander through the more experimental waters of festivals and showcases where Salhab may even pick up new acolytes thanks to the film\u2019s striking aesthetic.<\/p>\n<p>Of the three films, \u201cThe Valley\u201d had the most of what could vaguely be called a plot, though its concerns went beyond something as simply constructed as a storyline. \u201cThe River\u201d is even more sphinxlike, foregrounding an atmosphere of poetical realism in which an autumnal forest in the Lebanese mountains takes on mythical proportions as a kind of crucible pervaded by unexpressed emotions. It\u2019s not that the sylvan hills exist outside reality (military jets overhead and landmine signs stuck in the ground ensure this is identifiable territory), yet it\u2019s equally connected to the rights-of-passage forests associated with legends and fairytales. It\u2019s here that a woman (Yumna Marwan), nameless in that maddeningly contradictory way of denying individuality while still constructing a distinct personality, and a man called Hassan (Ali Suliman) are finishing up a meal at an outdoor restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>Before then we hear her in voiceover, wondering if the person she was the night before might have undergone some kind of transformation: \u201cWas I the same when I got up this morning? Who in the world am I?\u201d Salhab isn\u2019t really interested in that last question (if he were, he\u2019d have given her a name), but he is preoccupied with how we face each new trauma, and how it changes the way we relate to others and the environment. In the case of this man and woman, whose communication is nonverbal or in hushed tones, we learn they once were in a relationship which she ended, though the sexual connection remains strong and his desire to resume their partnership has not diminished. She wanders off, and as leaves gently fall onto the dead foliage blanketing the forest floor, he sets out on a search.<\/p>\n<p>Her re<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>earance on a cliff ledge is almost phantom-like, partly owing to fog that behaves like ectoplasm, but she\u2019s real enough to gouge a line into a tree\u2019s bark, leading him to tell her she\u2019s drained its blood. Shortly thereafter, she throws rocks against an already breached chain-link fence, which he then batters with a stick. At one point, he films her with his camera phone, the colors appearing on his device in enhanced tonalities, from an emerald green grassy pathway to strong red and yellow plants. It\u2019s all metaphor, but metaphor that\u2019s not meant to be connected to a definite, identifiable event.<\/p>\n<p>This woodland in its s<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>ped autumnal garb is of course Lebanon, its fruit rotting in an undergrowth booby-trapped by mines, divided by broken-down fences and watched over by a wild dog of uncertain allegiance. As jets and helicopters invade the skies, in a cave in the forest\u2019s bosom are cases of Israeli weapons and ammunition. Despite all this, it\u2019s still possible to see a brighter picture, as he does with his phone, but it\u2019s a willed illusion, one that disappears when clear eyes prevail, and in the end, the insecure landscape can\u2019t heal the ruptures of either the couple or the country.<\/p>\n<p>Salhab\u2019s visual aesthetic for \u201cThe River\u201d seems to have been guided in part by 19th-century Romantic illustrations of primeval forests, the muted, painterly earth tones enhancing the sense of a mythological limbo world that mimics reality, transforming the people who wander among its ancient trees and boulders. Fade-ins act as palimpsests, well-suited to graying sylvan settings, while black screens are used as disruptive devices, perhaps meant to mirror Lebanon\u2019s tragic discontinuities. This is a film that comes from an exhausted sensibility, from a place of deep sadness beyond anger where only allegory can capture the full depth of Lebanon\u2019s existential condition.\u00a0Carefully composed soundscapes have always been a key element of Salhab\u2019s work, very much in evidence here with ample use of non-diegetic sound; it\u2019s not surprising to note the involvement of seven post-production sound engineers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-tags \/\/ a-children-icon-bullet lrv-u-font-family-primary u-letter-spacing-012 lrv-u-line-height-large lrv-u-color-brand-primary\">\n<h2 id=\"optional-screen-reader\" class=\"lrv-a-screen-reader-only\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"optional_screen_reader\"><\/span>\n        optional screen reader  <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<nav class=\"o-nav  o-nav lrv-u-border-b-1 u-border-color-brand-secondary-40 lrv-u-border-t-1 lrv-u-text-align-center lrv-u-padding-b-025 u-padding-t-050@desktop u-padding-t-050@tablet u-padding-t-050@mobile-max lrv-u-margin-t-2 lrv-u-margin-b-2\" data-dropdown=\"\">\n<h4 id=\"\" class=\"o-nav__title lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-font-family-secondary o-nav__title a-content-ignore u-line-height-140 u-letter-spacing-0002\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Read_More_About\"><\/span>Read More About:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004\">\n  !function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n    if (f.fbq) return;\n    n = f.fbq = function() {\n      n.callMethod ?\n          n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);\n    };\n    if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n    n.push = n;\n    n.loaded = !0;\n    n.version = '2.0';\n    n.queue = [];\n    t = b.createElement(e);\n    t.async = !0;\n    t.src = v;\n    s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n    s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n  }(window, document, 'script',\n      'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '586935388485447');\n  fbq('init', '315552255725686');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/watch-movies-tv-series\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch Movies &#038; TV Series <\/a><\/span>category<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2021\/film\/reviews\/the-river-review-al-naher-1235034963\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Watch Online &#8216;The River&#8217; Review: Lebanon&#8217;s Existential Pain Expressed as Metaphor&#8221; &#8220;&#8216;The River&#8217; Review: Lebanon&#8217;s Existential Pain Expressed as Metaphor&#8221; Lebanon\u2019s leading avant-garde filmmaker Ghassan Salhab has always been unapologetically art house, scraping away at traditional forms of narrative to create elliptical works reliant on unfussy compositions and layered sound design. His films explore liminal&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":315954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/The-River-Al-Naher.jpg?w=1000","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-watch-movies-tv-seriess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}