Do you recall all the fuss that was made over the ban of Marc Abi Rached’s movie titled “Help”? (In which I have contributed!!)
Well, few days ago I was surprised to know that the movie is now being sold at the DVD stores in Beirut! So I went to Bourj Hammoud and bought it for 1,000 L.L ($0.66), though I am against getting illegal copies of Lebanese movies prior watching them in the theaters because I believe the Lebanese producers and directors should at least get support from the Lebanese audience.
Anyway, let’s move to watching the movie… just as the movie started playing, the license number obtained from the general security of Lebanon appeared, so I assume this copy is the one that was supposed to be shown in the theaters, and for some reason someone from within the general security decided to leak it out, and the result is of course Marc Abi Rached ending up being screwed twice! (banning it + leaking it)
The whole movie is a chaos, and the chaos lasts for around 1 hour and 15 minutes, it’s about a prostitute names “Thuraya” who is being tracked by a some business man to kill her but at the end gets saved by a teenager named “Ali”. And no they don’t get married at the end.
I think paying 10,000 L.L to watch “Help” in the cinema would have been a total waste of time and money. The story doesn’t make sense at all which made the movie more like an amateur x-rated video where a group of people got together just to show up naked, if the movie was just 5 minutes longer we could have seen Marc Abi Rached himself getting naked for the camera!!
It’s a cheap movie, or less than that, “akel hawa” maybe, and it definitely deserved to be banned.
I’m not sure I follow… So you didn’t like the movie, and maybe many many more people would have a greed with you, in the end everyone is in title to their opinion. But is this reason enough for the movie to be banned? IMHO this is very subjective and is not reason enough to BAN a movie. Some nudity? fine. Restrict to an adult audience. Why this movie was banned could not have been because it was “cheap, akel hawa or anything of that caliber… We get all kinds of shit movies from the USA. Why not allow a shit Lebanese movie to get a chance in our theaters?
deserved to be banned?
a bit overboard, don’t you think?
you can have a rating system and a warning system and tell people about the content, but you can’t ban it because you think it is boring! where do you draw the line then?
let people see it. then they can decide for themselves.
maybe the’ll just decide to never see another movie for the same actor/actress or director.
i’m sure reviewers would have ripped it apart if it is as bad as you say it is, and consequently less people would have watched it.
bad movie jobs have consequences, but one of them is definitely not banning a movie.
I admit it, the review is hard for the movie and is very subjective.
But when you go to the theater or buy a DVD, you expect to see a “movie”. However “Help” is seriously something low, I have nothing against Marc Abi Rached or any of the actors but the outcome of their work has really no value in my opinion, maybe you will get me when you watch the movie by yourselves.
🙂 Thanks for the tip. and yeah, it sounds pale. I wouldn’t want endorsing it just because it’s Lebanese.
Rami,
most Lebanese movies I have so far watched are just a complete waste of time. Even ‘Caramel’ with all the hype it received. After I watched it, I felt completely and utterly deceived. That’s how bad it was. I wrote about it last March in my blog I think.
Anyways, I can’t argue about the quality of ‘Help’ since I have not watched it and don’t think I have the time for it. I’d rather use my time for Slumdog Millionaire. But, I agree with Le Colleague and BG that you can’t just say it deserves to banned. It does not. No film and not any other kind of freedom deserves to be banned.
halla2 suckiness of movies are not enough reason to ban them… because yes people are subjective..
gheir heik, ok for the heads up for not watching it 🙂
Posh, slumdog millionnaire is just an amazing movie 😀
Maybe you shouldn’t have ‘expected’ anything prior to watching the movie.
@Posh & Liliane
Tayib, I would like you to watch the movie and read your opinion about it 😀 If Caramel received that review from Posh, I bet she will call for executing Help’s director when she watches it 😛 (kidding)
Seriously I’m not against any kind of freedom, the post just reflected how bad I thought the movie was.. I was never in favor of banning movies, but after watching “Help” I think that I can make a movie by simply shooting few scenes with my mobile phone, then if I was forbidden from showing it in theaters, I just go complain about it in the press…!
In my PERSONAL opinion, these low stuff should not hit the cinemas.. you may now tell me “ok, just don’t bother watching such movies in the theaters”, then I would shut my mouth 🙂
@Serpico
true maybe..
lol @ posh shooting the director.
I don’t think any movie should be banned… people have the right to choose whether to watch it or not… have a nice day!
Anyone know how to do things like this?