Last night at Zawya – the independent cinema in Egypt – the Lebanese award-winning film “Very Big Shot”, written and directed by Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya, was screened. Being the Lebanese film submission to this year’s Oscars, this film holds great significance.
This satirically dark film, starts off with three brothers getting arrested after the eldest commits a murder. The youngest eventually goes to prison for it, and the eldest brother builds up a cocaine-dealing business, using their pizzeria as a cover up. After taking the decision to quit the dirty business and open up a restaurant and after the youngest brother gets released from jail, one final drug deal setup goes bloodily wrong, leaving the brothers with a huge stash of Captagon, an amphetamine pill popular amongst rebel fighting groups across the Middle East.
“You are left questioning the up coming direction of Lebanon as a nation…”
Knowing the massive worth of these pills, the brothers – excluding the middle brother who disapproves of the other two’s drug business and ideas – decide to find a way to smuggle the drugs outside the country. Here is when we see the three brothers going from playing roles in the drug business to playing roles in the film business, to eventually embedding themselves into the political scene.
We will not give away any further details as this film must be watched and not burnt. However, what can be said thus far, is this film comically and wittily portrays the lost direction of Lebanon’s future. You are left questioning the up coming direction of Lebanon as a nation, through its eclectic realms of corruption, from social to political.
Here is the trailer of the film:
