Out of Life

Maroun Bagdadi’s 1991 film bears witness to the seemingly interminable Lebanese war through the eyes of a French journalist.

Patrick Perrault (Hippolyte Girardot), a free-lance reporter/photographer, is taken hostage in Beirut.  We are privy the various stages of his captivity as he experiences the humiliation, fear, pain, solitude and desperation inherent to his extreme circumstances.  Bagdadi examines the complex relationships between the protagonist, his captors and other prisoners in this disturbing and ambitious film.

In light of the continual risk faced by journalists in all war-torn areas, Out of Life remains as pertinent a work today as it was upon its initial release, when it was awarded the jury prize at Cannes for its bold portrayal of a difficult subject.