The Misfortunes of Some

The year is 1981, and Lebanon is embroiled in civil war. The central figure in The Misfortunes of Some is an ambulance and taxi driver named Haj Ali. The title of the film is a reference to the extra income he makes picking up corpses: the deaths of his fellow citizens provide a welcome supplement to his meager earnings. Through his eyes, we see the busy streets, where the traffic has to navigate its way through roadblocks, and he introduces us to the proud tradesmen in their shops along the coast road. The scenes are linked by the characteristic melody and images of a computer game, which gives the film an apparently playful but ultimately poignant undertone. One of the shopkeepers says that Christians, Druze, Shi’a and Sunni are all the same to him: they all need to buy his goods. When a number of shops are destroyed in a bombing, the mood changes and some say the war is a huge conspiracy. Lebanon is a battlefield where a sick war is being fought at the expense of the people.